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BETFAIR REVIEW
Taken from the Betfair website:
JUNE 2000
The Sporting Exchange launches Betfair. Betfair's first market is on The Oaks, won by Love Divine.
OCTOBER 2002
The co-founders of Betfair, Andrew Black and Edward Wray, are named Ernst and Young Emerging Entrepreneurs of the Year.
APRIL 2003
Betfair wins Queen's Award for Enterprise, in the Innovation category, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and following a full assessment by the Department of Trade and Industry.
DECEMBER 2004
Betfair wins 'Company of the Year' in the Confederation of British Industry's Growing Business Awards.
SEPTEMBER 2005
Betfair is named the UK's seventh fastest-growing technology company in The Sunday Times Tech Track 100.
NOVEMBER 2005
Betfair wins for the second year running 'Company of the Year' at the CBI Growing Business Awards. It is the first company to successfully retain its title. Betfair is named 'Socially Responsible Operator of the Year' at the inaugural eGaming Industry Awards.
APRIL 2008
Betfair wins an unprecedented second Queen's Award for Enterprise, this time in the International Trade category. Winners of the award are selected on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and an independent advisory committee.
In our opinion, Betfair have changed the face of gambling, undoubtedly in the favour of us punters, the odds you can get on Betfair invariably are the largest around, especially for longshots. Not only can you back your horse or football team to win, you can also play the part of the bookmaker and bet them to lose; Betfair were the first company to provide this level of betting flexibility to a mass market and nowadays are in a stronger position and more respected than ever before. They are the World's number one online sports betting exchange.
Betfair don't need to offer free bets to be an attractive proposition to us punters, but they still do. Simply open an account with them via a link on TakesAllSports and place a bet on any market up to £25 and if you lose that bet, they refund your stake within 24 hours.
Betfair accept a number of different ways to deposit and withdraw from your account; For both Ireland and the UK, these include Visa and Mastercard credit cards, Paypal, Neteller, Moneybookers, Click & Buy, bank transfer and cheque. Delta, Solo and Maestro debit cards are also accepted within the UK.
Betfair have a huge number of members, yet they still manage to turn around most of their email queries within 4 hours, which is remarkably fast compared to many other online bookmakers, they answered our questions accurately and in great detail. We phoned their customer services department which is manned 24 hours a day and got straight through to a friendly voice that was well prepared to answer our numerous questions on the spot. With the level of customer service we recieved, it's not hard to see why Betfair have won so many awards.
You can bet-in-running with many online bookmakers, but with Betfair you can trade in running. Say you backed your favourite team to win at 2/1 and although they are winning 1-0 with 10 minutes to go, they are under severe pressure and look very likely to concede. You glance at the Betfair odds and find you can lay them at 1/2 odds on (1.5 decimal), you take the price guaranteeing yourself a small profit irrespective of the outcome. 5 minutes later, your team concedes the goal and ends up drawing the match. Shame about the result, but at least you did'nt do your dough, infact you made a small profit. That's the power of Betfair.
All you Antepost punters have a new tool in your arsenal thanks to Betfair. Say you took 66/1 antepost about a horse that was entered for a race at the Cheltenham festival in 6 months time, for example, and in those 6 months the horse keeps improving to win 4 races in a row; a week before the big race, he starts a short priced favourite at 11/10, but the weather forecast for the next few days predicts heavy rain which will turn the ground against him. Before the rain starts falling you decide to lay off your antepost bet, securing a rather large profit in the process. The day of the race, the ground has turned soft and your antepost selection has drifted out to 13/8 because the betting public have reacted to the severe rainfall; your antepost selection finishes unplaced and the trainer blames the underfoot conditions for the wide margin loss. You sit smugly infront of your PC thinking how clever you were to lay off your antepost bet before the heavens opened up. That's the power of Betfair.
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