A fresh horse race-fixing scandal has broken out in the UK, reigniting the war of words between the fixed-odds industry and Betfair.
UK newspaper The Racing Post revealed the Jockey Club is investigating a gambling ring, which allegedly layed bets on horses it knew were going to lose on the exchanges.
And David Harding, chief executive of William Hill, wasted no time in criticising the role the exchanges had to play in the affair.
The long time opponent of the peer-to-peer model told The Racing Post he felt this type of behaviour was inevitable when punters are given the opportunity to back a horse to lose.
“If you create the opportunity for people to benefit from doing this sort of thing then don’t be surprised if they take you up on it,” he said.
However, a spokesman for Betfair said it was a “non story” and it had co-operated fully with the Jockey Club in investigating the suspect activity since January 2005.
“Betfair agreed to leave open the accounts in question, to allow either that a solid case could be built against those alleged to be corrupting racing, or that the accounts could be clearly and unequivocally exonerated,” a Betfair statement said.
“The Jockey Club has since February been able to monitor these, and other, accounts live through Betfair's Betmonitor service,” it added.
source : egr magazine
