Hi all,
Long-time Bet Angel user here. Like a lot of you I run more than one instance and trade largely unattended, and over time I got tired of babysitting it — relaunching after a crash, logging back in, re-opening Guardian, re-applying my coupons and rules, especially on a VPS I can't always watch.
So I built a tool to do all of that for me, and it's grown into something I think others might find genuinely useful. In plain terms, it:
- Launches and manages multiple Bet Angel instances from one place
- Logs each one in (including 2-step verification) and opens Guardian
- Applies your coupons and automation rules automatically
- Runs on a schedule (e.g. different setups for different events/days)
- Keeps everything alive 24/7 — auto-restarts a crashed instance, survives reboots and RDP disconnects, and self-heals without me touching it
It sits on top of Bet Angel — it doesn't replace anything, it just automates the fiddly operational side so the platform can run hands-off. Credentials and 2FA details stay encrypted on your own machine and never leave it; that mattered a lot to me and I suspect it matters to everyone.
Why I'm posting before doing anything more with it: this is built entirely around Bet Angel, and I don't want to take it any further without Peter being comfortable with it. I've tried to reach him through PeterWebb.com but haven't heard back yet. I won't be releasing or commercialising anything without his blessing — that's a firm line for me, out of respect for him and the platform we all rely on. If anyone has a good way to get this in front of him, I'd appreciate a steer.
In the meantime I just wanted to gauge interest, is this something you'd actually use? And if so, what would matter most to you? Happy to answer any questions about how it works.
Cheers,
Robin
Built a "fleet manager" for running Bet Angel unattended — gauging interest (and waiting on Peter's blessing first)
Hi Robin,
Apologies, but I haven't seen any email come through from you. Messages sent via the website generally end up in our support system, and nobody here seems to have seen anything arrive, so it may simply have gone astray somewhere along the way.
In principle, we don't have an issue with people building additional tools or utilities around Bet Angel, and over the years we've seen plenty of examples of users extending workflows in creative ways.
There are a few caveats worth mentioning though.
The main one is that Betfair are generally very sensitive about login credentials. Even if passwords are encrypted and stored locally, Betfair's position has traditionally been that passwords should not be stored at all. That's something anybody should bear in mind.
The other obvious consideration is trust. Anybody using a third party application would need to satisfy themselves that they are comfortable with it and understand exactly what it is doing. That's not a reflection on your software specifically, just the reality of handing account access and automation responsibilities to software developed outside the core platform.
From our perspective, support can also become complicated if somebody experiences an issue while using a third party management layer. If Bet Angel appears to have behaved unexpectedly, or we're trying to reproduce a problem, it can be difficult to determine whether the behaviour originated in Bet Angel itself or from software sitting on top of it.
With that in mind, if you decide to make it available from your own website, people can assess it and use it at their own risk. We can't formally endorse it, audit it, certify it, or provide support for it, but we're happy for the discussion to remain on the forum provided people understand those limitations.
I hope that helps clarify our position.
Apologies, but I haven't seen any email come through from you. Messages sent via the website generally end up in our support system, and nobody here seems to have seen anything arrive, so it may simply have gone astray somewhere along the way.
In principle, we don't have an issue with people building additional tools or utilities around Bet Angel, and over the years we've seen plenty of examples of users extending workflows in creative ways.
There are a few caveats worth mentioning though.
The main one is that Betfair are generally very sensitive about login credentials. Even if passwords are encrypted and stored locally, Betfair's position has traditionally been that passwords should not be stored at all. That's something anybody should bear in mind.
The other obvious consideration is trust. Anybody using a third party application would need to satisfy themselves that they are comfortable with it and understand exactly what it is doing. That's not a reflection on your software specifically, just the reality of handing account access and automation responsibilities to software developed outside the core platform.
From our perspective, support can also become complicated if somebody experiences an issue while using a third party management layer. If Bet Angel appears to have behaved unexpectedly, or we're trying to reproduce a problem, it can be difficult to determine whether the behaviour originated in Bet Angel itself or from software sitting on top of it.
With that in mind, if you decide to make it available from your own website, people can assess it and use it at their own risk. We can't formally endorse it, audit it, certify it, or provide support for it, but we're happy for the discussion to remain on the forum provided people understand those limitations.
I hope that helps clarify our position.
Hi Peter,
Thank you — I really appreciate you taking the time to give such a considered reply, and for being open to tools built around Bet Angel in the first place. (And apologies for the email going astray — the website form must have swallowed it; good to make contact properly here.)
I've taken your caveats on board, and they're exactly the right ones to raise.
On credentials in particular — you're right that this is the crux. The tool does need to store the Betfair login and 2FA seed locally to log instances in unattended; there's no way around that if the goal is hands-off operation. They're encrypted at rest with Windows DPAPI and never leave the machine, but I completely accept that Betfair's position is that passwords shouldn't be stored at all, and I'll make sure that's stated plainly and up front so anyone using it is making an informed choice rather than discovering it later.
On trust and support — understood and agreed. I'll be clear at every step that this is an independent tool, not a Bet Angel product, not endorsed, audited or supported by you, and used entirely at the user's own risk — and that support questions about it come to me, not to your team. The last thing I'd want is to muddy the water on where a problem originates.
Where things stand: it's functional and I've been running it on my own setup for a while — multi-instance launch, login, Guardian, applying coupons/rules, on a schedule, with self-healing if something falls over. I think it's at the point where a small amount of real-world feedback would be valuable before doing anything more with it.
With that in mind, and so I stay within what you're comfortable with: would you be OK with me taking a small number of beta testers from the forum? (If there is any interest). I'd do it carefully — issuing time-limited licences (so it's clearly a trial that simply expires), making the limitations above explicit to anyone who takes part, and keeping the discussion here transparent. Entirely happy to work within whatever bounds you'd prefer.
Thanks again for the steer — it's genuinely appreciated.
Robin
Thank you — I really appreciate you taking the time to give such a considered reply, and for being open to tools built around Bet Angel in the first place. (And apologies for the email going astray — the website form must have swallowed it; good to make contact properly here.)
I've taken your caveats on board, and they're exactly the right ones to raise.
On credentials in particular — you're right that this is the crux. The tool does need to store the Betfair login and 2FA seed locally to log instances in unattended; there's no way around that if the goal is hands-off operation. They're encrypted at rest with Windows DPAPI and never leave the machine, but I completely accept that Betfair's position is that passwords shouldn't be stored at all, and I'll make sure that's stated plainly and up front so anyone using it is making an informed choice rather than discovering it later.
On trust and support — understood and agreed. I'll be clear at every step that this is an independent tool, not a Bet Angel product, not endorsed, audited or supported by you, and used entirely at the user's own risk — and that support questions about it come to me, not to your team. The last thing I'd want is to muddy the water on where a problem originates.
Where things stand: it's functional and I've been running it on my own setup for a while — multi-instance launch, login, Guardian, applying coupons/rules, on a schedule, with self-healing if something falls over. I think it's at the point where a small amount of real-world feedback would be valuable before doing anything more with it.
With that in mind, and so I stay within what you're comfortable with: would you be OK with me taking a small number of beta testers from the forum? (If there is any interest). I'd do it carefully — issuing time-limited licences (so it's clearly a trial that simply expires), making the limitations above explicit to anyone who takes part, and keeping the discussion here transparent. Entirely happy to work within whatever bounds you'd prefer.
Thanks again for the steer — it's genuinely appreciated.
Robin