I was going to write a post suggesting that the article in yesterday's 'News' of the World was perhaps not quite true (someone by the name of Elliott Short had supposedly won 20 million pounds in a year by laying horses) but Betfair have beaten me to it.
Betfair Customer Services 29 Jun 13:13
We have been contacted by several customers in relation to an article in Sunday’s News of the World. We would like to make it clear that Betfair was not asked to comment on, or validate any aspect of, the article ahead of publication.
Although we cannot comment on the activities of any specific customer, some facts which may be relevant to some of the claims made in the article include:
the biggest winner in the relevant Britain’s Got Talent market (Susan Boyle winner - Yes/No) won less than £3,000.
No Betfair customer won £1.5 million or anything even vaguely approaching that amount betting on the Champion Hurdle.
No Betfair customer won £500,000 or anything even vaguely approaching that amount laying Monsieur Chevalier at Royal Ascot
The figures shown in the account statement screenshot in the News Of the World do not reconcile to any Betfair account.
The monies present in a Betfair account are obviously no indicator of the sums won or lost on the account.
We would encourage customers to be wary of the claims of anyone purporting to have a profitable system or strategy.
We would encourage customers to retain a healthy degree of scepticism toward any claims made in the press which are not validated by Betfair.
About Me
- Cassini
- I have had a life-long interest in sports and after studying Pure Mathematics with Statistics at secondary school, have been fascinated by odds and probability. The first system I came up with was a simple one - back the favourite and double up after a loss until a winner. Simple enough in theory, and I told my Dad about it. Not being a betting man himself, he ran it by some of his colleagues, and came home to tell me that it wouldn’t work because a long losing run would mean that the bank would be empty. Then there was always the possibility that the winner would be returned at odds-on, meaning that the total returns would not match the outlay. Not what a ten year old wants to hear! Only slightly daunted, I then went on a search for the Holy Grail, the secret to riches that I knew was out there somewhere. Finally in 2004 I stumbled across an article about Betting Exchanges and four years later I was able to make a steady profit.
Fair play to Betfair for posting that. Intially I thought it had more than a whiff of a Betfair PR job, expect a Elliot Short tipping service coming to a website near you soon. Piss poor journalism from the "News of the Screws", even they've pulled it from the website.
ReplyDeleteNick
It's already in place - check out laybetting.org
ReplyDelete"We have partnered with Betfair.com to offer you a free £25 lay bet stake to get you started like Elliott in the exciting world of lay betting"
Betfair may have something to say about that...
Did you notice that Elliott Short sounds very similar to "I lay it short?"
I know the kid, and the amount of winnings the NOTW posted is correct, although how he did it is not - he didnt participate in the article, but was set up by an undercover reporter
ReplyDeleteI would suggest that you retain a healthy degree of scepticism. The NOTW pulled the story once it was exposed as a scam. They would not have done this if there was any truth to it. It is simply not possible to make an average of over £50k a day for a year from betting. Of course, if you send me just one day's winnings. I shall happily believe every word of the story.
ReplyDelete04/07/2009
ReplyDeleteLAST Sunday, we published a story claiming sacked City trader Elliott Short, 22, had won £20 million in a year betting on horses.
Short said he had won the money by taking bets from punters at online betting exchange Betfair.
Betfair, while not commenting on individual accounts, say Mr Short's claims were inaccurate and the News of the World was misled.
While the information was published in good faith and efforts were made to verify the story, our journalism fell below the high standards readers are entitled to expect, in particular the failure to check the story more thoroughly with Betfair.
We regret that error and apologise to readers.