Ok, so a lot of start-up projects have bugs at the beginning, but when it comes to Betfair's launch in the U.S., bugs doesn't begin to describe it. This isn't about minor, fixable problems or inconveniences, it's about having to navigate through a maze of obstacles that will leave you wanting to beat yourself repeatedly over the head with a baseball bat because it seems like the only way to ease the pain.
I love exchange wagering. I was able to play in the U.S. many years ago before Betfair cracked down and made sure no one in this country could access the website. Exchange wagering is simply the greatest invention in the history of gambling, and I found playing over Betfair to be far preferable to the traditional pari-mutuel betting process. You could bet against a 3-5 shot you thought was going to lose. You could get a bet down halfway through the race on a longshot that was loose on the lead. You could arbitrage, trying to predict which way the odds would go on particular horses and guarantee yourself a profit if you got it right. And with a takeout structure of 2 to 5%, you actually felt like you had a fair chance of making a profit.
So I anxiously awaited the debut of Betfair in the U.S, which was last Tuesday. To play you had to be a New Jersey resident, which I am, and deposit money into a U.S. Betfair account, which I did. I handicapped the first at Parx and was ready to go.
Not so fast.
When you log on to Betfair, you immediately get a screen that tells you they can't confirm that you are located in the state of New Jersey. Well, I was in New Jersey and my IP address should have confirmed that I was in New Jersey. Would they like me to take a picture of myself standing in front of those smelly oil tanks on the Jersey Turnpike?
But there was hope. You could call a customer service number and surely some nice person from Betfair would get on the phone and walk you through it. Well, maybe not. I called the number at least 20 times and it was busy all 20 times. A friend told me they did get through to the number once but got a recording that said the number was not accepting calls at this time. Lovely.
By the way, it wasn't just me. I heard from six other people who all had the same experience.
Because I have plenty of connections in New Jersey racing I was able to get my complaints relayed to Betfair through the management at Monmouth Park, which is behind the exchange wagering experiment in the U.S. They put me in contact with someone from Betfair, who was very nice, but couldn't solve my problem. Finally, a second Betfair employee got in touch with me and walked me through the 483 steps that were necessary to change my settings on my computer so that the tracking system would in fact conclude that I was as much a Jersey guy as Springsteen and Soprano.
So I was in. But what about the Average Joe who has no ability to get in touch with someone who could help them at Betfair and doesn't have an MIT education, which is what it would take to know how to reconfigure your computer to make the tracking system realize you are in New Jersey?
And that's the real problem. Betfair, which also owns 4njbets–the only legal ADW in New Jersey–is required to have a geotracking system in its software to prevent someone from committing the heinous crime of placing an a bet from, say, Montana. With 4njbets.com, it works just fine. With Betfair, it doesn't work at all. Live in Jersey, work in Jersey, own every Bon Jovi record there is, root for the Devils and think Snooki is the perfect woman and Betfair's geotracking system just won't believe that you're a Jersey-ite.
(By Day 2, they were answering the phone and advised me to clear my browsing history, reboot my computer and try again in Google Chrome. No dice. I still couldn't be pinpointed in New Jersey.)
But with the help of insiders, by Thursday morning I had gotten through Betfair's version of the Berlin Wall and was ready to go. When I went to the site I was delighted to see what appeared to be the day's betting menu. It included Finger Lakes, Belmont, Louisiana Downs, Penn National, Evangeline Downs, plus tracks in France, South Africa, Great Britain, Ireland and Chile. But after I successfully logged in a new screen came up and the only tracks available to play were Louisiana Downs and Evangeline. Huh?
I wanted to know why and called a TVG/Betfair spokesman but I got a recording saying he wasn't accepting any incoming calls. I wasn't surprised. Every time I had reached out to some at TVG/Betfair to find out how many New Jersey customers they had signed up how much they had handled I never got a response.
Well, Louisiana Downs it is.
I started in the second race there and wanted to try every kind of bet and strategy that is available on Betfair. Here's how it went:
2nd Race: The plan was to start with the simplest wager, to bet on a horse to win. A horse named Frontierjustice (Corinthian) seemed to be a longshot with a chance, so I bet $10 on him at odds of 8.69-1. On Betfair, the price you take is the price you get. All odds are fixed. Within seconds of my betting the horse, his odds were up to 11-1. Oh, well. Frontierjustice ran second. A total of $32,298 was matched or wagered on the race. Minus $10.
3rd Race: Thought I'd try “laying” a horse or betting it to lose. Man of Strife (Leestown) in on the board at 8-1 in the pari-mutuel pools at Louisiana Downs and I can lay him for $10 at 5.28 on Betfair, which seems like quite a bargain. Though he's dropping from $10,000 claimer to $5,000 claimer, he ran dismally in his last start and I'm pretty sure he will lose. If he does, I'll win $10. If he wins, I'm out $42.58. Man of Strife gave me a scare, making a big move on the turn, but he finished second. I won $10 and am even on the day. A total of $35,055 was matched on the race.
4th Race: This time I will try to arbitrage, to predict the flows of the betting market. The idea is to bet on a horse at one price, say, 3-1, and then lay him at a lower price, say 2-1. Or you could lay a horse at, say, 4-1, and then bet him to win at 5-1. If you pull that off you cannot lose.
I focused in on the three favorites and tried to bet and lay each one in a manner where I would guarantee a profit. It got to be too confusing, with too much going on and I was soon lost. I probably would have been better off had I just zeroed in on one horse. I left myself vulnerable and could have lost as much as $54 on the race. Luckily, I had played it right when it came to Yoou Den (Kiss the Kid), a horse I actually hated. She won and I made $54.20.
A total of $39,310 was matched.
5th Race: Betfair likes to boast that one of its most unique aspects is the “in-running” wagering where you can keep betting until the horses cross the wire. I wanted to tackle in-running in this race, but the pools closed the minute they left the gate. So much for in-running.
Calling it a day. Profit: $54.20.
The 12% bite they take from New Jersey customers makes U.S. exchange wagering a lot less attractive than U.K exchange wagering, but it's still a good concept and it's a lot of fun. Betfair is something that may very well provide a shot in the arm to U.S. racing.
No track tries harder than Monmouth Park does and that's why they've been at the forefront to bring exchange wagering to the U.S. But if Betfair doesn't get its act together immediately exchange wagering here is going to get off to the type of slow start from which it will never recover. If you agree, call the customer service number (855-248-3247) and complain. Good luck.
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