Betfair fixed-odds sportsbook launch nears
Operator in move to improve in-play and ante-post betting offerings " expected to go live in the UK before 8 June.
Exchange betting operator Betfair is to launch its fixed-odds sportsbook in time for this summer’s European football championships in Poland and the Ukraine, the company has revealed.
The decision to launch a traditional sports betting product was taken in order to allow the company to strengthen its in-play and ante-post offerings. It is well known that the exchange model struggles to offer markets on live events due to the need to quickly build liquidity. UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph reports this morning that Betfair’s 4 million customers place around 30% of bets with other operators due to the exchange’s limitations.
The operator’s interim CEO Stephen Morana (pictured), who will return to his role as CFO when former Paddy Power COO Breon Corcoran joins the company on 1 August, announced the decision to develop a fixed-odds site in March this year, explaining: “Our sports exchange always has been “ and always will be “ Betfair’s core product… but we also recognise that there are certain bets at certain times that the exchange, by its nature, cannot offer.”
Nick Hagen, Betfair’s director of sports operations described the fixed-odds site as being developed to “complement, not compete” with the exchange site, and the two will run in tandem, described by the company as a “Next Generation Sports Site,” allowing customers to bet on both platforms simultaneously.
The company already operates a fixed-odds sportsbook in Italy with exchange betting not regulated there when it first entered the market five years ago. This is set to change after the publishing of a ministerial decree to regulate peer-to-peer betting in January, however the exchange faces delays with Italian regulator AAMS reportedly still working on changes aimed at addressing the concerns of neighbours Spain with enabling the legislation.
Newly-appointed trading director Craig Mucklow, who joined Betfair from Ladbrokes in April this year, will head up the fixed-odds trading team, based in the company’s Dublin office.
The sportsbook, developed on the OpenBet platform, will now be launched for UK customers in the coming weeks, ahead of the beginning of Euro 2012 on 8 June. It has already gone live in smaller markets including Cyprus in a staggered launch to ensure issues with the site are solved in time for its introduction to Betfair’s core UK market.
Commenting on the partnership Betfair’s group director of operations Ian Chuter said: “We have had a long and productive relationship with OpenBet and they were a logical partner to work with to introduce a fixed odds betting element to our offering.”
“Our next-generation sports product will complement our Exchange and enable us to offer competitive prices on markets that previously we were unable to offer or were only very illiquid. Our customers will now have no reason to bet anywhere else,” he explained.
OpenBet CEO David Loveday commented: “This is another example of how OpenBet works with its customers to enhance their overall product offering. After many years of working together, OpenBet is proud to be part of Betfair”s biggest innovation since it was first launched.”