How will 4G affect in running betting?

Betfair embrace this kind of technology. Having a handful of people miles ahead at an event seems preferable to them over giving the thousands of people at home a reasonable chance (which if they had obviously more people would play).

Stephen Burn confirms as much in this piece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6We9TgsghgA

Your 'working enviroment' statement is quite correct though imo. I remember doing Windsor on a mini laptop once and some kid was kicking a ball at me during the race

hi the bank man . how does 4g work compared to what is available now ?
does it provide more data per second or something , which would then allow streaming of live events over the internet with not much of a delay but good quality pictures ?

i'm far from an expert on the subject but basically mobile broadband will be faster than current hard wired broadband. people will be able to take their mobile devices courtside and have superfast connections. the auctions to sell the airspace are next year, march i think, so the networks could be making it available from then although thats unlikely as it'll take time to set it all up.

Will it really make a difference? - I went racing 3 times last week and it is already difficult to get a good vantage point from which to watch a race for all people that are already in place and clutching various hand held devices!

There seem to be plenty people already (at times) beating the clock on snooker, football and tennis. Based on their track record to date, I would imagine the response from BF would be to offer more unmanaged markets!

Hello Noodles - long time no speak.

A serious (but possibly naive) question for you - do you think BF are raking in so much PC (from those with the time advantage, trading rooms, raw feeds, on track, etc) that it is not in their (financial) interest to do anything whatsoever to deliver and lobby others to deliver a level(ish) playing field?

Maybe I am totally naive but I would have thought a level(ish) playing field would generate a massive increase in turnover and therefore commission. Plus that increased turnover would slosh around a lot more (attracting commission at every slosh) - whereas currently it largely goes one way once before it was withdrawn, never to be seen again. I would have thought that as a long term (sustainable) strategy, the increased turn over and the increased "sloshing" generated by a level(ish) playing field, would outweigh the revenue generated by the PC?

Am I naive, stupid or both? I know most decisions these days are made but short term profiteers and sustainability comes a poor second, (I also fully understand why some other parties would be disinterested) but why are BF seemingly also so disinterested in a level playing field iyo?

the management , i know that when i watch on channel 4 or bbc analogue , i bet 3-4 times more than i would do normally , because the delay is only around 1 second i have confidence i can bet fairly. i guess faster pictures for everyone would increase turnover.

Harold - yes - ditto, I play in-running now - but only under certain circumstances, so it is pretty rare. I think I would play in running at 5 or 6 times the level I do now if I was confident that I wasn't simply getting mugged.

Fairness aside - I guess the (purely financial) question is - would the increase in turnover (and therefore commission) outweigh the commission and PC that it currently delivers. I don't suppose it would in the very short term but I find it hard to believe that it wouldn't in the medium/long term. Hence puzzled by the BF position (as I understand it).

Hello, TM. Can only agree with what you have posted. Not sure turnover would instantly go through the roof because there might only be a small hardcore of regular players - but I would also risk a lot more race-by-race on a level-ish playing field.

No idea what BF are thinking. Stuck in their Ivory Tower oblivious maybe. GL today.

I was surprised you never participated in the 'A level playing field for ir' thread noodles.

Hey feck. I didnt have a big opinion one way or the other (status quo or your idea) so for once I kept out of it.

does anyone know what the shortest delay could be achieved by streaming the pictures through the internet from the racetrack to homeusers for betting in running purposes ?

Delays are caused by the number of sector stations to pass message / video through and current usage by others at each sector which can give unknowable bottlenecks at each and every stage. As a platform for streaming video, 4G can approach, in theory only, the performance of home DSL service, but only if there are no more than five to eight Netflix users per sector. Unlikely in the extreme during racing hours.
In practice 4G can’t approach the capacity of fixed Internet access networks. It’s only lame competition and any time gains at the course are at risk of being totally lost to a home user on cable internet.
Current VOIP also does not work on 4G and the its replacement is expected to take 5 years

hi cornubia , the delay on betfair video for horse racing is around 3 seconds behind live . is this the fastest video can be streamed at the moment ?

thats interesting cornubia. so basically, 4G isn't likely to make it any nearer possible to stream pictures from tracks. the only real difference will be that it'll be possible to bet a lot quicker. thats bad news for the stay at home guys as there's bound to be an increase in track players at places that don't allow boxes for track players.

Commercial video is streamed to suit the lowest common denominator (not the highest). That means streaming speeds for the customers with the slowest computers and also means small pictures of low quality. It could all be 100 times faster and higher picture quality but only top price cable broadband users in the places you can get that would be able to benefit. On the other hand Betfair can make good will, broadcast speed gratis investments in ATR etc and set up common broadcast delay standards with all sporting bodies and broadcast services. They can also insist on broadcast time stamps (real time pictures) and provide user software to constantly compare that time with the actual time you receive the picture at home etc. It would help, but like most commercial companies unless the media expose them as useless or embarrassing, they don't give a damn for customers even the ones they currently won't ever get to try IR as it has such a bad name for scamming with novice punters.