Betfair should be nationalised.

You're talking my language Johnny.

What commission structure would you recommend Johnny ?
Would you permit bots ?
Would you permit certain players with unfair technical advantages to dominate the exchange profit wise ?
In other words what of the present specific problems would your proposal solve?

Hey,I'm not writing a business plan to have it ripped apart by the self interested majority on here but the overall idea is sound and in the national interest.

Billions of UK pounds are passing through this place every year and this should be under Government control not some off shore organisation.

The exchange would be primarily designed as a gambling exchange and not as a place for people to run organised businesses.

Registered UK based bookmakers would be allowed to register a business account to use solely for hedging purposes. 

My ideas would include :-

Obviously no commission would be charged, but either a small tax charge on all winning bets (as opposed to winning markets) OR a small transaction charge on all bets matched OR a combination of the two. 

No automated betting facilities.

Organised business users / quasi bookmakers  would be identified and invited to complete annual Income Tax returns.

In running would be curtailed - suspended say 1/2 way through a horse race. Only at change of ends in tennis. In running maximum stakes and back bets only could also be a possibilty on certain sports. 

Overseas accounts would register as such and 'big' overseas winners would pay an additional tax on winnings exported.

Only one account per person and all UK accounts would be linked by NI numbers to tax and benefit records.

Winning gamblers would be welcome!

What is everybodys shiny new grips with bots?


If you want to punish the HFTs  then up the transaction charges. Simple.

'In running would be curtailed - suspended say 1/2 way through a horse race. Only at change of ends in tennis. In running maximum stakes and back bets only could also be a possibilty on certain sports. '


Why not just ban track players?

gripe*

Phew.
Too much Johnny.
I'm overwhelmed by the enormity of your idea.
I"ll need a lot of time to think this one through.
So before I do that, just tell me that you're playing just a little bit more than devil's advocate here.
OK ?

"I have no time for lies or fantasy and neither should you"

John Lydon

Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.

Mark Twain

i'd guess that if the Government offered, say  £7.70 a share, it could be nationalised by the end of the week.

I'm a private enterprise man myself at heart.
Wouldn't trust the Govt to run a p!ss up in a brewery successfully.

It's not just about whether a gov can run it or not, nationalisation is just morally wrong.

Well Stalin and Pol Pot and his followers on More4 right now would say different of course.

I don't know about morally wrong.
What's morally wrong about trying to give people a fair and equitable deal ?

Also I think you might be a bit confused when using Stalin and Pol Pot as examples regarding the good and bad of nationalisation, don't you ?

It's morally wrong.

And as I'm watching a program about a man who believed in nationalising everything (leading to a disaster as usual), it's not surprising he, as an infamous proponent of the concept, should spring to mind.

I think then you had better define to me what you feel are morals in this context.

A low margin and I mean 5% and under t0te monopoly with no rounding to suit their needs would be the ideal - extremely strong, no one closed down for being good, plenty of mug money in pool and a fair price. Make all other products illegal in the country and govt, punters all happy.

Correct me if  zip is wrong  Betfair started with 2 guys who could not get on with the bookies so decided to bet each other & hey ho Betfair was born. A very successful idea....no botts... no in running....no after timing....no cheats. Just one to one betting.
what the problem

Indeed zipper. The sort of innovation you don't get in nationalised industries, the sort of innovation you get when people are free and not constrained by a bunch of thick control freak kommissar ****s in some state bureaucracy. If nationalisation was the culture you'd never have had betfair, and no **** has the right to stop the next betfair coming along.

Useful when investigating tax and benefit fraud.



LMFAO

Of course they do. When it's in the national interest to protect wealth, jobs and tax revenues.

Millions of UK pounds being sucked abroad by offshore gambling sites - no tax paid. Jobs moving abroad. Makes no sense.

Little wonder the US clamped down on offshore poker sites

Jobs moving abroad. Makes no sense.




A drop in the ocean compared to the poor EU parasites coming here and doing the genuine jobseekers out of a job.

Just think how big it could get if it became the new 'tote' but without the 20%+ take outs!

They said they do not care about the 500 people out of 3.9 million the new charges affect.

out of 3.9 million the new charges affect.




Of that 3.9 'customers', they probably have under a million who actually punt. (nap) (hence the inflated share price that was on offer when they floated)

There are 3.9 millions people registred with an account, but as stewarty says, most of them are dormant and a few are probably used for poker only.

  I have never seen Betfair mention a number over one million when they talk about active customers and their definition of an active customer is someone who has placed at least one bet during the last year.