Bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) came up with similar excuses for middling results as did William Hill recently on which I wrote a previous blog post (see https://sharesocstagin.wpenginepowered.com/blog/company-news/how-bookmakers-lose-money-william-hill/ ).
In this case they complained about results that favoured customers which apparently cost them £40 million, including losing £5m on the US election result alone. As I pointed out previously, this should never happen unless they are betting against their customers or not setting the odds properly. This is particularly amusing if you bear in mind that a big part of this company is the Betfair operation. This is what they say on their web site: “Betfair is a betting exchange – an online marketplace for punters to bet against themselves on sporting and cultural events around the world. Customers bet against each other not against Betfair”.
The fact that two of the major bookmakers are both complaining about this, even though earnings are much as expected and revenue well ahead in the case of PPB, suggests they are yet again trying to fool their customers into thinking that bookmakers can lose money if the punters are lucky.
Roger Lawson 24/01/2017
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