Seems their not doing it on the Aus racing though

Q: Which markets will be affected by this change?
A: We plan to roll this functionality out to all markets on the site , except those which can have non-runners (like Horse Racing win and place markets) and those where runners can be added ("Accumulators" for example).

   



Q: What is Cross-Matching?
A: Cross-matching is a more efficient method of matching customer bets. Previously we would only attempt to match customer bet requests against unmatched bets of the opposing bet type (backs vs. lays) on the same runner in the same market.

On markets where cross-matching is offered, bet matching will now attempt to match the bet request against opposing bets on the same selection and unmatched bets on other runners e.g. in a soccer match odds market the bet matching algorithm will attempt to match a back bet placed on the home team against unmatched lay bets on the home team or unmatched back bets on the away team and the draw. Customers will receive the best price available on the exchange at the time of bet placement.

Q: Which markets will be affected by this change?
A: We plan to roll this functionality out to all markets on the site , except those which can have non-runners (like Horse Racing win and place markets) and those where runners can be added ("Accumulators" for example).

Q: How will I know if cross-matching is operating on a particular market?
A: The operation of cross-matching on any Australian market will be notated in the market information.

Q: Why are you making this change? What is the benefit for customers?
A: The effect of this change is that customer bet requests will stand a greater chance of being matched and the markets will be correspondingly more efficient.

Q: Is there any downside for existing customers?
A: For the majority of customers, no. Customers who have automated strategies will find fewer riskless arbitrage opportunities, and customers whose strategies rely on offering prices less competitive than would be achieved by placing opposing bets on other selections will also find it harder to match other customers at less competitive prices.

Q: Will I still get "best execution"?
A: Yes. We will cross-match whenever this represents better value than matching on the single selection which means that customers will receive the best value price available.

Q: Why the change / why hasn't Betfair done this before?
A: Betfair has been successfully operating cross-matching on UK exchange markets for some time.

Q: I access Betfair via the API. What changes will I need to make to my strategy?
A: You won't have to make any changes. The available unmatched bets in each market will be represented via the API in exactly the same way they are now. We're only changing the way bets are displayed on the Betfair website.

Q: Is Betfair now "active" in these markets/are Betfair running a bot?
A: What we've changed is a core part of bet matching. When we get a bet request we're now looking at all the customer bet requests it could be matched against, not just opposing bets on the same selection. It would be misleading to describe that as being a bot, or Betfair being "active" on our markets, as matching customer bets is what Betfair does.

As part of the cross-matching process, Betfair uses an internal account which acts as a counterparty to the bets being cross-matched. The cross-matching process may result in a small amount of residual funds remaining in the internal account in some instances. This residual may occur because Betfair only matches customer bets at discrete odds intervals.

Any residual funds that accumulate in this internal counterparty account as a result of the operation of cross-matching on Australian markets will be provided back to customers through future events involving cross-matching markets, in a manner that is approved by the Tasmanian Gaming Commission.

Seems to suggest there is some kind of Aussie regulation that is not allowing BF to profit from the process.  This may also be one of the reasons they haven't done it on Aussie racing yet as it does seem like racing has big potential for BF getting a skinner in-running which would no doubt be frowned upon by the Tasmanian GC

The match odds market on the 2nd Test went underround on the back side a few times last night so I'm pretty sure it wasn't on there.

uk "regulation" obviously has more "relaxed" attitude to the skim

Bayes.     03 Dec 10 12:57 
The match odds market on the 2nd Test went underround on the back side a few times last night so I'm pretty sure it wasn't on there.

Yeah I noticed that around 1am but didn't notice anything after that but went to bed around 1 40am. There certainly wasn't any when the first 3 wickets went down. I have emailed the Tasmanian Gaming Commission for there views on it.

This is most interesting regarding the Australian regulations.

After spending the past couple of weeks reviewing how the 'in play' markets are reacting to the cross-matching, I decided to use a strict strategy and place some bets based simply on what my perception was on how the logarithms were working 

On races where I had no interest on the outcome or any backs or lays, I played "in-running" with small stakes and placed without api/programs, etc simply using the betfair platform.

Horse Racing / Bang 15th Dec : 2m1f NHF     15-Dec-10 15:35     15-Dec-10 15:47     -1.13
Horse Racing / Newb 15th Dec : 2m3f Nov Hrd     15-Dec-10 14:40     15-Dec-10 14:51     3.38
Horse Racing / Bang 15th Dec : 3m Hcap Hrd     15-Dec-10 14:25     15-Dec-10 14:32     5.76
Horse Racing / Newb 15th Dec : 3m2f Hcap Chs     15-Dec-10 14:05     15-Dec-10 14:15     -0.20
Horse Racing / Bang 15th Dec : 2m4f Hcap Chs     15-Dec-10 12:45     15-Dec-10 12:53     1.48

Not sure if what I did would work with larger stakes but was interesting to watch the potential of green with next to no risk.