Sandracer.com Racing Should Thank Betting Exchanges

With the recent spate of charges brought by the authorities over race fixing, and the likes of Kieron fallon and Robert Winston receiving lengthy riding bans, a question remains - are betting exchanges good for racing?

Well it's a no-brainer for me, but the question remains in some folks mind.

How Betting Exchanges Work
With the advent of the Betfair P2P betting exchange, punters can bet on winners, or lay a horse to lose, ie act as the bookmaker. If you think a horse will lose, is a bismarck, is under-priced, or inconsistent form-wise, you can join Barry Dennis from your own home, rather than be a rails bookmaker for a living.

Insiders Laying Horses To Lose At Inflated Odds.
Of course, some "in the know" horse racing folk such as jockeys and trainers, have been caught allegedly laying horses at inflated prices on the betting exchanges to lose. Apparently, according to some folk, that means the betting exchanges have caused betting fraud or irregularities, rather than unearthed it.

Well, such a mentality is a rather childish one. I have some news for those that think P2P exchanges have caused more problems in racing than they've solved. Racing has always hard a dark side don't you know?

Punters Know About Non-Triers.
Pulling horses throughout a race, at the start of a race, at the end of a race and jockeys purposely falling off of horses, has been going on forever to beat the handicapper. The punter in the bookie knows it, so let's not be coy. Racing punters know all about non-triers. How many jockeys have not ridden a horse out to it's best possible finishing position? Not to mention trainers running unfit horses and a plethora of other tricks of the trade.

Thanks Go To The Betting Exchanges.
All the P2P betting exchanges have really done is open the can of worms that was always there, not put the worms in a can. Such a phenomenon should be applauded, not derided, for it is phenomenal the darker side of racing is finally coming to light. Thanks to the betting exchanges, Highlighting Betting Irregularities and Insider Trading is easier, due to the likes of Betfair's recording of the odds and betting patterns and making such information available to the racing authorites as quickly as possible, and in such a transparent manner.

Points of reference:
♠ Exchanges Will Always Leave Racing Open To Skulduggery
♠ Do Betting Exchanges Really Open Racing Up To No Good
♠ Robert Winston Suspended For 1 Year
♠ Robert Winston Will Not Appeal
♠ Is Jockey Robert Winston Really Guilty
♠ Kieron Fallon Devastated By British Racing Ban
♠ Graham Bradley - Accused Of Corruption
♠ Corruption In Racing - Panorama
♠ Ex Jockey Club Security Chief - Racing Institionally Corrupt
♠ Jockey Club Scandals Archive

Blogged up at 18:43, Wednesday, February 21, 2007 by the Sandracer.