Betfair - Ask the Managing directors Q&A Session

News, chat and debate about the Betfair betting exchange.
PeterLe
Posts: 3723
Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:19 pm

I do understand what you guys are saying and I dont disagree. I only trade part time and I have a regular well paid job (career) that I enjoy doing (although at one point I was earning more on Betfair than via my regular job).
I enjoy the interaction with my colleagues and customers and enjoy the travel/benefits etc…but you do get to take some sh*t too!! They want their pound of flesh! No matter what job you have, it always seems mundane at times?

It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has done this full time and returned to work and get their views. Unless you are fortunate to go into a high paying job you will never get anywhere near what you are earning on here?

I was talking to my mate this morning who regularly gets up at 4am to drive a lorry (imagine sitting on the M6 on a Friday afternoon for £15Hour or what ever it is>?) Hell on earth!
Last edited by PeterLe on Fri Dec 20, 2013 3:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Euler
Posts: 26242
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 1:39 pm

LinusP wrote:The trick is to be the guy selling the diggers.
Unfortunately not I can report, that's a common myth. If competition is too intense it becomes a war of attrition and nobody makes a penny.
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jimrobo
Posts: 1290
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:49 pm

the crazy thing was I was completely in at the top with an upcoming company before I gave it up to trade full time. At the time it was the right decision because the markets were on the up. With hindsight it was a bit of a crazy decision but thats life!
LinusP
Posts: 1917
Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:45 pm

Euler wrote:
LinusP wrote:The trick is to be the guy selling the diggers.
Unfortunately not I can report, that's a common myth. If competition is too intense it becomes a war of attrition and nobody makes a penny.
Sorry Peter, just a joke and wasn't personal.
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LeTiss
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 6:04 pm

I'd be interested to know why things changed so massively, and who was responsible?

In 2007, I attended one of their education evenings at Brighton racecourse. It was run by Scott Ferguson, and the whole evening was dedicated towards showing all traders how to achieve a green screen and make money whatever the result

At the same time, Betfair were running TV adverts showing the benefits of a P2P exchange and how bookmakers were ripping customers off with their outdated model

Within 12-18 months we had PC arriving and the P2P adverts disappeared

Something clearly changed dramatically in 2008, I'd love to know what that was
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superfrank
Posts: 2762
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:28 pm

i guess a fair p2p betting/trading platform (with no profits tax) was too good to be true.

good luck to all those deciding to move on.
Last edited by superfrank on Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Euler
Posts: 26242
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 1:39 pm

LinusP wrote:Sorry Peter, just a joke and wasn't personal.
No problem, I didn't take any offence, just wanted to reaffirm that it's the trading opportunity that's always been my motivation.
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mugsgame
Posts: 1235
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:41 pm

PeterLe wrote:I do understand what you guys are saying and I dont disagree. I only trade part time and I have a regular well paid job (career) that I enjoy doing (although at one point I was earning more on Betfair than via my regular job).
I enjoy the interaction with my colleagues and customers and enjoy the travel/benefits etc…but you do get to take some sh*t too!! They want their pound of flesh! No matter what job you have, it always seems mundane at times?

It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has done this full time and returned to work and get their views. Unless you are fortunate to go into a high paying job you will never get anywhere near what you are earning on here?

I was talking to my mate this morning who regularly gets up at 4am to drive a lorry (imagine sitting on the M6 on a Friday afternoon for £15Hour or what ever it is>?) Hell on earth!
£15 a hour? You're kidding. Those days are long gone. The influx of Eastern European labour meant that companies like Tesco pretty much sacked all their drivers and took on a new workforce on lower paid contracts. many HGV jobs are less than £8 an hour unless you are a tanker driver or need a specialised licence. I get your point though.
I think all of us have a "grass is greener attitude". I can only relate to my previous job. As it stands, even though sometimes it was "hell on earth". I would rather be there now.
bun22
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 12:52 pm

Spot on "grass is greener" attitude. I have changed my life quite significant in the last 5 weeks expecting it to be much better. It is something what I wanted to do for the last couple of years. Guess what? I already think it was a wrong decision. I think we have to love, be passionate about what we do and everything else will follow. I don't want to sound stupid but I think that's why PW is so successful. He simply loves what he does. Most of us are here to make money and we get angry when things go different way than we expected them to go. Our EGO takes over and before we know, it becomes stressful and our results disappoint us. From now on I am happy with what I have got rather than being miserable about things I don't have.
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kelpie
Posts: 341
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:40 am

LeTiss 4pm wrote:I'd be interested to know why things changed so massively, and who was responsible?

In 2007, I attended one of their education evenings at Brighton racecourse. It was run by Scott Ferguson, and the whole evening was dedicated towards showing all traders how to achieve a green screen and make money whatever the result

At the same time, Betfair were running TV adverts showing the benefits of a P2P exchange and how bookmakers were ripping customers off with their outdated model

Within 12-18 months we had PC arriving and the P2P adverts disappeared

Something clearly changed dramatically in 2008, I'd love to know what that was
2008 was just a few quartes away from the 2010 flotation...

... and just a few quarters after the Softbank pre-float purchase in 2006.

the pressure Softbank must have placed on Black et al to float betfair so they could flip their bit on to mugs must have been horrendous. I think Softbank had like a fifth of the whole betfair show in the late naughties.

To nudge the City into a float betfair HAD to show escalating revenue. That couldn't come from steady 5% VAT (effectively that's what commission is) on winners.

And since the 2010 float betfair's gone from the frying pan into the fire - from Softbank pressure to dividend pressure. These have to at least gently escalate. By my back-of-the envelope tally, half of betfair's dividends into the City are from premium charge thieving.

in short... the City!!
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superfrank
Posts: 2762
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:28 pm

+1, great post. sums it up very well.

the existence of the pc is quite bizarre when you think about it - i thought it was a joke when it was announced.

the exchange revolution should have nearly killed off traditional bookmaking by now - like digital cameras killing off film cameras - 'hard to believe things have gone backwards.
tweebie1999
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2010 9:23 am

Why if Betfair is so unpopular over the PC don't punters / traders shift over to Betdaq/Ladbrokes? These exchanges don't have the PC yet their liquidity doesn't seem to me to be improving.
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jimrobo
Posts: 1290
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:49 pm

tweebie believe me we are all there putting our 2 cents in. If theres not enough to start with though we can't do anything.
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kelpie
Posts: 341
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:40 am

tweebie1999 wrote:Why if Betfair is so unpopular over the PC don't punters / traders shift over to Betdaq/Ladbrokes? These exchanges don't have the PC yet their liquidity doesn't seem to me to be improving.
Let's be frank, bookies are scum.

And the loathing for betfair's recent clusterfuck is the same loathing of bookmakers.

There's no moral difference between bookies and drug dealers peddling free samples outside primary schools. Both aim to profit by ruining lives.

Thanks to the digital age an alternative to bookies emerged, betfair. Yet now that same people's exchange are promoting a rip-off book, where the intent is to rip off mug punters and recycle the looting into dividends for the city, it's just disgraceful.
marko236
Posts: 737
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2013 11:54 am

tweebie1999 wrote:Why if Betfair is so unpopular over the PC don't punters / traders shift over to Betdaq/Ladbrokes? These exchanges don't have the PC yet their liquidity doesn't seem to me to be improving.
Why don't you guys use Betdaq for the big sports events like prem league and big horse racing events,
and use betfair for the medium size events?

If you all do this and reduce your profits on Betfair then they might start getting the message.
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