Betfair would be delighted if every PC closed their accounts

Yeah, I remember when I lost 30k on the World Cup final. They rang me up and said, 'you know what, rather than you pay this out of your account, we'll pay it out of our funds....' Considering they expose themselves to nothing, 72% of funds deposited is a good return.

Similarly if those PC payers encourage activity on site by virtue of being there, they are probably more of an asset than a debit. Without money to bet into they can't take commission. I wanted a bet on Alania HT/FT market- nothing to bet into, maybe there would have been before, maybe not, who knows, but robot markets offering 180% books aren't going to make them money either.

While the optimum model for the exchange is people continually passing money backwards and forwards to each other while BF take the rake, the reality is there will be a massive proportion of novice and recreational punters who will never play that game. They simply do not bet in that way. Deposit £50, back Liverpool for £50, lose bet, a few months down the line, deposit £50, back Liverpool, lose bet, ad infinitum...

Only if Betfair offer prices themselves can they get the 100%. The problem is, if they do that, they are just another price in the already crowded bookmaker market, and on the basis of their risible multiples product, I somewhat doubt they'll be the best price on that market.