I read your posts with interest LeTiss, and as usual, you have very eloquently mirrored my precise thoughts on the nature of 'an exchange'. Betfair marketed the heck out of it's USP at the time, namely punters betting against punters (as opposed to bookies), so to see the sportsbook tab was just a betrayal of their own principles as far as I'm concerned.LeTiss wrote: ↑Fri Apr 02, 2021 9:24 amI always had my concerns about the future of Betfair, the moment they opened a Sportsbook
It went against the very principles of the Exchange. When Betfair started, they were different and appealed to punters, layers and traders alike. Traders need the punters for liquidity and getting matched. The Sportsbook takes many of those punters away, which is terrible for the traders. This partially explains why the fill-rate feels slower these days
I remember the likes of Ladbrokes trying to close Betfair down. They thought it was plain wrong that they had built up years of goodwill, and Joe Bloggs shouldn't be allowed to lay bets. Clearly, they were protecting their own business, but Betfair won that battle, so to end up becoming a bookmaker themselves was akin to getting in bed with the enemy
Don't get me started on XM......
CS