Advantages of a UK Betfair Account

[gremlin79]

Hi guys, i've read on other forums about people wanting access to UK Betfair accounts. My question is why would this be important as opposed to opening a Betfair account in their own country?

[ShaunWhite]

Not all countries are allowed to access BF.

[northbound]

Also in some countries (like Italy) Betfair let’s you open an account but you only have access to Italian traders’ liquidity, which is much much lower than Betfair UK’s.

Not to mention horse racing markets are missing entirely.

[Kafkaesque]

Throw in, although minor compared to the reasons already mentioned, that there's a higher commission in a number of countries; those were their governments taxes BF heavily for doing business there. Base commission is 6.5% here in Denmark for instance.

[gremlin79]

Great - thanks for those answers. How about in relation to speed of in-play bets, would a user in another country betting with a UK account (via a VPN back to the UK) get matched quicker than a user in their native country?

[ShaunWhite]

Great - thanks for those answers. How about in relation to speed of in-play bets, would a user in another country betting with a UK account (via a VPN back to the UK) get matched quicker than a user in their native country?

Depends if their internet connection is 2 bean cans and a piece of string. A VPN running automation close to BFHQ would be faster in theory but if controlled manually then the speed of the connection from the user to the VPN comes into play just as a direct connection from the user to BFHQ would.

These people don't want a UK account for speed, they want one because they're restricted and can't trade without one. If BF find out they're not entitled to one then they risk having their assests frozen. Cross boarder reporting for Money Laudering regs also come into play. Eg you can't trade from Syria because we have no agreement with them about exchanging information.