Galileo - Pisa Cake

A sensible comment on my last post drew my attention to this recent article in the Financial Times:

Regulated sports betting fund unveiled
By Steve Johnson

Published: March 28 2010 10:29 | Last updated: March 28 2010 10:29

Investors seeking uncorrelated, “economy-proof” returns are being offered a new asset class – trading on sports betting exchanges.

The Galileo Fund, which will be launched this week by London-based Centaur Corporate, claims to be the world’s first regulated such vehicle.

Tony Woodhams, managing director of Centaur, likens the strategy to derivatives or foreign exchange trading – with the benefit that many participants are driven by emotion rather than cool-headed logic.

“It’s more an entertainment for them. This provides a great opportunity for a clinically minded group,” said Mr Woodhams, a former derivatives trader with Cargill and floor trader on the London International Financial Futures Exchange.

Centaur already operates five unregulated funds, with assets of about £15m (€17m, $22m), which it says have produced average annual returns in excess of 40 per cent.

The Galileo Fund will be an experienced investor fund regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission.

It's a cool name, but the last syndicate that attempted to make money on Betfair didn't fare too well when Rangers won in Lyon a few years back. £500k lost in total if the comments on the forum are to be trusted. (Usually they are not, but this amount was generally accepted as about right).

I'd be interested to know what the fees and commissions are though, and where they are recruiting their trader(s) from so if any of you sign up, keep me informed.

In other news, unrelated except that this story also comes from an esteemed financial paper, and the Italian connection, here's a familiar story on late season football in that great country:

Just two weekends ago, seven bookmakers, including Ladbrokes and Paddy Power, suspended betting on a soccer match between Italian clubs Chievo and Catania, suspecting it might be fixed after bettors wagered more than $2.98 million the game would end in a tie. (It did: the final score was 1-1.) On Sunday, gamblers again appeared to be unusually confident Chievo's match with Parma would result in a draw, and several bookmakers stopped taking bets on that particular wager. Sure enough, Chievo blew several chances to score, and the match finished 0-0.