On December the 28th 2011, we saw a sports betting error of enormous proportions on Betfair.
Betfair exchange users watched in astonishment when somebody offered up over £20m at odds at decimal odds of 29.
Not only that, this was still on offer as the horse crossed the line. There was so much money available that only £1.6m of it was matched at the winning horse crossed the line.
It was the most amazing market ever. But what happened? How did Betfair blunder?
If you want to know the specifics of what happened from a technical perspective, check out my blog post. On it I received an anon comment on the detail of what happened: –
To mark the tenth anniversary of this amazing event. I have re-cut the last video I did on this for the benefit of people who would never have seen the original video or heard about this before.
#betfair #horseracing #betting
Vídeo Completo
Sounds like an evening of American racing on Betfair. Voiding races are part of the experience.
I was on the wrong end of this, got right to the top of Betfair management who refused to do anything. Very badly managed and they refused to look at on a case by case basis to refund money. When the same thing happened with England v Germany WAAAY back at the start they took it on the chin.
It is interesting to see the juxtaposition in tone from IBAS – pointing out the insufficient testing of the customer bot in section 6, but then giving Betfair the benefit of the doubt for their "unforeseeable" error in section 30, also caused by insufficient testing! It doesn't change the outcome of the adjudication as they have to void the market for a clear technical failure, and while I'd agree the exact scenario may not have been foreseen – boundary checking is very much software testing 101!
Hi Peter, why was my previous comment deleted ? I wasn't rude or anything towards you. Genuinely looking for a way to PM you about Guardian without providing personal information.
Wow….
You’re getting like uncle Albert and the war with this story…..!
I very clearly remember this, watched it live.
Wow
Merry Christmas Peter!
Not quite the same thing but recently I encountered a situation for the first time whilst in the markets. I'm sure you have come across this before Peter but it was a photo finish in one of the day's horse races. The market was suspended as normal at the end of the race, but a few minutes later (after I'd seen the photo finish replay) the market reopened with the two horses involved trading at around 1.5 and 4.0 respectively. Being the first time I had come across this situation I did not maximise its potential. That said, it was clear – both to me and apparently to the market – which horse had won the race and so a healthy profit was made! Tom.
I have a feeling if the horse had lost they would have kept any back bets and carried on as usual. Seems to be the way they operate now anyway… technical fault on our part, sorry you lose.
the second video on this issue but still well presented and worthwhile