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Read the full story on Mark’s blog<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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So today we reach the Oaks and tomorrow the Derby, when the summer racing really starts to step\u00a0 up a gear. The start of June means Royal Ascot is just around the corner.<\/p>\n
If you are a Betfair newbie you may not know that the Oaks at Epsom was Betfair\u2019s first market way back when they started in June 2000. But it was a little later that year, on June 11th. Mark Davis reminisced on his blog about it. I think Mark, as an insider, gives a better insight into the early days at Betfair better than I can. That are some interesting bits in there –\u00a0“From memory, I think about \u00a33,400 was matched.” Mark says on the first ever market. I wonder if they could have foreseen what the site would look like in 2015? I bet you they didn’t think the home page would be a sportsbook!<\/p>\n
Mark goes on to talk about the launch – “Many people remember our mock funeral which made the front page of the business section of the Sunday Times<\/em>, when we paraded a coffin around Finsbury Circus and its environs proclaiming, \u201cthe bookie is dead \u2013 make your own market!\u201d. Far fewer remember the demo we arranged outside the Sports Cafe, where a rag-tag-and-bobtail group of actors donned mackintoshes and flat caps, and held up placards saying \u201cstop the launch\u201d……\u00a0The Sports Cafe launch was the \u2018official\u2019 launch, but it wasn’t a whole lot more successful than the private one.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\nRead the full story on Mark’s blog<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n