Betfair customers pass three million mark

[Bet Angel]

Setting another significant milestone for the company in a year which marks its tenth year of operation, online betting exchange Betfair is celebrating its three millionth registered customer.

As Betfair continues to achieve record levels of growth, this latest milestone comes less than 12 months since it passed the 2.5 million registered customers mark.

In the last five years total revenues at Betfair have nearly tripled, rising from £107 million in 2005 to £303 million for the year ended April 30th 2009, whilst adjusted EBITDA has more than doubled from £30 million to £72 million in the same period.

The Betfair platform now processes more than six million transactions per day and handled more than 500 million individual bets in the past year on the betting exchange alone.

“Reaching our three millionth customer is a significant achievement of which I am extremely proud,” said David Yu, Betfair’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our continued growth is a testament to Betfair appealing to a wider range of people than ever before.

“The fact that we have passed this milestone in the year we celebrate our tenth birthday is symbolic of how far we have come in that time; from a company seeking to break into an industry with new cutting-edge technology, to one which is truly global in size and scale. With what should be the biggest betting event of all time just around the corner in the World Cup we will be looking to build on this achievement as we power our way to four million.”

Betfair was officially launched in June 2000 by parent company The Sporting Exchange and developed by founders Andrew Black and Edward Wray.

[Bet Angel]

http://corporate.betfair.com/Three%20Mi ... 0Customers

I phoned Betfair and asked if they would like to comment on active users and their definition of what an active user is but they declined to comment.

[Zenyatta]

So much money passing through... for the smarties the more customers the better I suppose. All we ask is that a very fraction of that money is skimmed off and sent our way...

[andyfuller]

I wonder what % of those new customers are horse racing people - my guess not that many! Probably more casino and arcade players!

[PeterLe]

I think once they have the global momentum (and they are working on it); there is only one way the figures will go...In a few years we will look back to when Betfair "Only" had 3 million

I'm personally looking forward to when the gambling legislation is relaxed in the US..that will do for a start..My cousin in the US will be one of the first to join Betfair (although she doesnt know it yet!!)..anyone know any good VPS providers in the US by the way ha!!
regards
Peter

[PeterLe]

..As a secondary thought; I remeber reading somewhere that less than 1% of Betfairs customers make a regular profit...
At 1% that would make it 30,000 people...which seems very high?
..Just wondered if anyone knew the actual figure..(not significant, but just interested)...
Regards
Peter

[npatel999]

Of the 3m millions or so customers, does any one know or like to hazzard a guess of the % by country of registration or usage?

[Zenyatta]

I can hazard some guesses based on what I've read.

Accordingly to Betfair, 1 in 200 people make a regular profit (0.5%). Adam stated on his blog he thought only a few people (less than 10?) make what he does (1000-2000 pounds per day) on the horses, but possibly hundreds (100-1000 people?) are making at least a regular living wage on the horses.

Don't know how many customers are horse racing fans... perhaps 10% seems a reasonable guess.

Assaume 3 million customers, 15 000 regular winners (0.5%), and 10% of those in the horse racing markets, makes 1 500 horse racing pros. Sounds about right.