Let’s start with yesterdays cricket match between Ireland and Zimbabwe. The match must have been a thrilling one as the result was declared a tie, not a very common result even in one-dayers.
Betfair’s rules state that in the case of a tied match in an event where no market exists to bet on the tie, all match bets are void. So, if you backed Ireland or Zimbabwe for a straight win, your bet counted for nothing and you got your stake back. My own position on the market was fairly small, Zimbabwe £0.00, Ireland +£52 (which after commission would be a little under fifty quid), but a number of people would have spent a lot of time in front of their screens continuously trading to show good profits on both teams. All their efforts are now for naught. Equally, anybody who got it wrong and was staring down the barrel of a big loss, just ended up with the best Get Out Of Jail card they’re ever likely to get in their life.
Trading on the match was heavy. The last I looked was 10 overs into Zimbabwe’s reply and trading volume then stood at £3.5M. Given how tight the match must have been at the end, the final volume must have been huge, possibly two or three times that figure.
I’m a big Betfair fan and feel they provide a very good service that is usually very well run, but in this instance it’s hard not to feel that they could have done slightly better. The rules are the rules, so no problems there, but I think it might have been reasonable to have offered a tied match market which would have solved all problems. There is a big Irish Sports Forum on Betfair and I don’t think it would have been difficult to have foreseen that betting on this match would have been one of the largest in the group stages of the competition. It would also have made Betfair themselves a bit of money, as all their potential commission has gone up the Swanee.
Alternatively they could just settle such markets by dead heat rules anyway (which is presumably what they would do in the event of a tied match market result existing). Incidentally, I’m not talking through my pocket here as my own potential returns would have been under twenty five quid, but if I’d spent six hours trading on this, which I have done in the past, I’d be a bit peeved to say the least.
Finally, the ICC rules are a little strange as Ireland lost fewer wickets than Zimbabwe, which in a number of other events would have led to them being declared winners.
On to the racing then. I’ve a bookmaker offer running today, £50 on Wichita Lineman at 6-4 with a free £50 bet on Degas Art in the Triumph at the niggardly odds of 8-1. If Degas wins, I shan’t complain about his price and if he loses I shall trade the Wichita bet off on Betfair, who currently go 2.58. I still intend trading off some or all of my 2-1 on Wichita that I got on Wednesday, but it would be nice to see the odds go down on the exchanges. I’m still hopeful that they will, although right now they are holding up quite strongly across the board. However, Monet’s Garden was strong on Betfair at 3.4 until shortly before the race yesterday, before eventually going under 3.0, so there’s still hope.
After the Gold Cup, if they day has gone well I might have a couple of fun bets on Hasty Prince in the Grand Annual and Fair Along in the County. If I do back Fair Along, that would be my 20 year County cherry gone, but after his turn in the Arkle on Tuesday, he is a very intriguing runner to say the least.
