General Betting
There is currently 1 person viewing this thread.
Betfair Australia CEO to leave in February
14/09/2011
James Bennett
Betfair has begun the search for its second CEO in as many months following the resignation of long-serving executive Andrew Twaits in Australia.
Twaits joined the business in April 2005 and has agreed with the board to leave his position in February next year as the global search begins for his successor. No reason has been given for his departure.
Global CEO David Yu announced his departure in late June but has given no date as to when he will leave the business. Search firm Zygos has been appointed to find his replacement, eGaming Review has learned.
Betfair’s Australian operation is a joint venture partnership with James Packer’s ASX-listed Crown, employs more than 100 staff, is licensed in Tasmania and has operations in Hobart and its corporate HQ in Melbourne.
Twaits’s resignation comes just two weeks after the Australian High Court in Canberra sat down on 30 August to decide on a landmark case to determine the fees corporate bookmakers such as Betfair pay to Racing New South Wales and Harness NSW to access trackside information. Betfair, alongside Paddy Power-owned Sportsbet, has long argued that a 1.5% levy on its gambling turnover is protectionist and discriminatory. Its legal case began in November 2009 when the operator issued proceedings in New South Wales against the two racing bodies.
In June this year a Sydney Federal Court ruled in favour of Sportsbet suggesting that NSW racing bodies had imposed turnover fees aimed at discriminating in favour of monopoly incumbent Tabcorp. The court found it “abundantly”' proven that the way Racing NSW had been collecting fees from Sportsbet was protectionist, discriminatory and unlawful. Racing NSW was ordered to repay Sportsbet AU$2m.
At the time the presiding judge said there was no doubt online bookmakers were perceived as a threat to Tabcorp, which has the exclusive retail licence to provider wagering in NSW until 2013, and that Racing NSW could not portray itself as an independent regulator as it had a vested commercial interest the TAB's success. It also had a conflict of interest in imposing fees, the court added.
Betfair’s case, that claims the turnover tax is aimed at protecting the TAB’s revenues and allegedly breaches section 92 of the Australian Constitution, is ongoing. In a post on his personal blog entitled 'Racing NSW wastes an opportunity to clear the air over race field debates' relating to a Daily Telegraph article on 3 December last year Twaits said "the default position adopted by Racing NSW when they can’t counter an argument with sound reasoning or contrary facts is to accuse the other side (normally Betfair, or me specifically) of 'spin'."
Industry bodies began charging all bookmakers a 1.5% fee on turnover for the rights to use race fields information in 2008. The government said this would prevent online bookmakers such as Sportsbet and Betfair “free riding” on the state’s racing industries.
The racing bodies in Australia define turnover as the aggregate of all back bets. Betfair argues that impacts on its exchange business which is a high turnover/low margin model compared to local NSW operator TAB Limited which is a high margin operator.
More than 30 lawyers, representing most states in Australia, corporate bookmakers and Tabcorp were present at the three-day hearing, which could generate AU$50m a year for thoroughbred racing in NSW, if the High Court dismisses the appeal, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
A ruling on the case is expected in two to three months time.
http://www.egrmagazine.com/news/1694492/betfair-australia-ceo-to-leave-in-february.thtml
14/09/2011
James Bennett
Betfair has begun the search for its second CEO in as many months following the resignation of long-serving executive Andrew Twaits in Australia.
Twaits joined the business in April 2005 and has agreed with the board to leave his position in February next year as the global search begins for his successor. No reason has been given for his departure.
Global CEO David Yu announced his departure in late June but has given no date as to when he will leave the business. Search firm Zygos has been appointed to find his replacement, eGaming Review has learned.
Betfair’s Australian operation is a joint venture partnership with James Packer’s ASX-listed Crown, employs more than 100 staff, is licensed in Tasmania and has operations in Hobart and its corporate HQ in Melbourne.
Twaits’s resignation comes just two weeks after the Australian High Court in Canberra sat down on 30 August to decide on a landmark case to determine the fees corporate bookmakers such as Betfair pay to Racing New South Wales and Harness NSW to access trackside information. Betfair, alongside Paddy Power-owned Sportsbet, has long argued that a 1.5% levy on its gambling turnover is protectionist and discriminatory. Its legal case began in November 2009 when the operator issued proceedings in New South Wales against the two racing bodies.
In June this year a Sydney Federal Court ruled in favour of Sportsbet suggesting that NSW racing bodies had imposed turnover fees aimed at discriminating in favour of monopoly incumbent Tabcorp. The court found it “abundantly”' proven that the way Racing NSW had been collecting fees from Sportsbet was protectionist, discriminatory and unlawful. Racing NSW was ordered to repay Sportsbet AU$2m.
At the time the presiding judge said there was no doubt online bookmakers were perceived as a threat to Tabcorp, which has the exclusive retail licence to provider wagering in NSW until 2013, and that Racing NSW could not portray itself as an independent regulator as it had a vested commercial interest the TAB's success. It also had a conflict of interest in imposing fees, the court added.
Betfair’s case, that claims the turnover tax is aimed at protecting the TAB’s revenues and allegedly breaches section 92 of the Australian Constitution, is ongoing. In a post on his personal blog entitled 'Racing NSW wastes an opportunity to clear the air over race field debates' relating to a Daily Telegraph article on 3 December last year Twaits said "the default position adopted by Racing NSW when they can’t counter an argument with sound reasoning or contrary facts is to accuse the other side (normally Betfair, or me specifically) of 'spin'."
Industry bodies began charging all bookmakers a 1.5% fee on turnover for the rights to use race fields information in 2008. The government said this would prevent online bookmakers such as Sportsbet and Betfair “free riding” on the state’s racing industries.
The racing bodies in Australia define turnover as the aggregate of all back bets. Betfair argues that impacts on its exchange business which is a high turnover/low margin model compared to local NSW operator TAB Limited which is a high margin operator.
More than 30 lawyers, representing most states in Australia, corporate bookmakers and Tabcorp were present at the three-day hearing, which could generate AU$50m a year for thoroughbred racing in NSW, if the High Court dismisses the appeal, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
A ruling on the case is expected in two to three months time.
http://www.egrmagazine.com/news/1694492/betfair-australia-ceo-to-leave-in-february.thtml
sort by:
Show
per page
Replies: 38
|
By:
How many CEO does BetFAIR have? Is very strange have more than one,...?
|
|
By:
is there a market up yet?
|
|
By:
Is there a spelling mistake in thread title
 |
|
By:
no is correct name I think, is spelt right.
|
|
By:
I wonder who will be replacing Mr Twatis and Mr Yu, will be interesting...
|
|
By:
*Twaits
|
|
By:
Actually the replacement for Mr Twaits probably won't make any difference for those of us outside Australia, but the other appointment will.
|
|
By:
They are in a difficult position.
If they appoint someone w/ an extensive background in the gambling industry, inc. non-exchange, it's a tacit admission to the City that bf is just another gaming stock and will (sooner rather than later) go ex-growth. If they appoint a CEO from another field, they have the prob. that their middle-level clients i.e. the pc payers are dissatisfied and that the new man wd seem primarily to be answerable to the City. I wd get Mark Davies back in again, even on his own terms. He will be able to give a lead within the company, most of all in the sense of making employees and clients feel that bf is a 'special' product. |
|
By:
Betfair shares up sharply in recent days on the back of good news out of Germany (ie.they won`t be shut down there anymore it seems)..
|
|
By:
Its hard to find a CEO for such a cutting edge business as betfair is but Andy Black was the
standard as it takes someone who has been involved with professional gabling to understand what punters really want, but there are other attributes that are required well many in fact so its a complex job filtering for the correct profile for headhunting, lets hope hes punter friendly just like the exchange and can move betfair correctly into the future for the good of all concern. |
|
By:
By the way I cant fault the betfair website as it sets the standard for all betting sites in so many ways and oozes class and professionalism , well done betfair.
|
|
By:
thought no one liked the new interface when it changed some months ago bff?
|
|
By:
By the way I cant fault the betfair website as it sets the standard for all betting sites in so many ways and oozes class and professionalism , well done betfair.
 Pass the sick bucket. |
|
By:
kinda adds to the notion that bff is a betfair plant. who else would kiss ass so blatantly. it's unnatural. bff did you have a previous username please?
|
|
By:
good old professional betfair
 |
|
By:
By the way I cant fault the betfair website as it sets the standard for all betting sites in so many ways and oozes class and professionalism , well done betfair.
It would be very difficult to come up with a more imbecilic interface for a gambling site. |
|
By:
I find it astonishing actually how crappy some of the regular bookies websites are. About 4 clicks to get to a relevant football match, and slow loading, having to wait about 5 seconds between clicks. At least bf has that down.
|
|
By:
The new 'search markets beta' is not even close to being as good as the original search functionality which worked 100%.
Type in 'first corner soccer', on the old interface this would bring up all the relevant markets, which are only a handful, with the new search functionality, you get a lot of nonsense: Showing results for 'first corner soccer'. Results per page Showing 1-10 of 18369 results * Hartberg v First Vienna | Asian Handicap Soccer | Austrian Soccer | 16 September 2011, 17:30 View mini market * Freiburg v Stuttgart | First Corner Soccer | German Soccer | 16 September 2011, 19:30 View mini market * Shelbourne v Limerick | Match Odds Soccer | Irish Soccer | 16 September 2011, 20:00 View mini market * Wexford Youths v Mervue Utd | Over/Under 2.5 goals Soccer | Irish Soccer | 16 September 2011, 20:00 View mini market * Wexford Youths v Mervue Utd | First Half Goals Soccer | Irish Soccer | 16 September 2011, 20:00 View mini market * Wexford Youths v Mervue Utd | First Goal Odds Soccer | Irish Soccer | 16 September 2011, 20:00 View mini market * Shelbourne v Limerick | Over/Under 2.5 goals Soccer | Irish Soccer | 16 September 2011, 20:00 View mini market * Blackburn v Arsenal | First Corner Soccer | English Soccer | 17 September 2011, 12:45 View mini market * Salthill Devon v Waterford | Match Odds Soccer | Irish Soccer | 17 September 2011, 19:00 View mini market * Salthill Devon v Waterford | Asian Handicap Soccer | Irish Soccer | 17 September 2011, 19:00 View mini market Results per page 1 2 3 4 5 ... 1837 next |
|
By:
Betfair C.E.O. going undercover in his own company!
|
|
By:
Well i created a purple account to have a look at there forum and low and behold its full of posters complaining about there website, lack of markets, poor liquidity on dogs and some other sports, and the whole website has something missing, also there very nervous about the 1bet facility as there now believing there on a bookmakers site and that is all confusing?
Sounds just like all the whinging on here, and i am as guilty as the next man for that but at least this site does look and feel professional as its cost alot to get it to be like it is now. |
|
By:
find it astonishing actually how crappy some of the regular bookies websites are. About 4 clicks to get to a relevant football match, and slow loading, having to wait about 5 seconds between clicks. At least bf has that down.
I've actually given up on soccer betting outside the prem/champs league on Betfair because I can never find where they've hidden the games. I looked for the England Wales match and I reckon it took me 10 minutes to find it. It wasn't under Internationals or English football.. eventually found it on a list of about 100 games in "coupons" I've commented on this before when people say the purple is harder to find matches on, I'd love to know what I'm missing as the purple menu system seems light years ahead of Betfairs (Although much of this is due to not having to wade through Japanese division 7 or whatever else Betfair have cluttering up the coupon) (Of course on the days the old search is present it's easy enough) |
|
By:
Well Lori, I have an app that loads the matches for me. Before that I used to use the old search function functionality, which was waaaaay faster than clicking through all the menus and worked adequately.
With the new search markets beta, betfair have tried to make it better by autocorrecting spelling mistakes like google does with 'did you mean x'. They haven't done it properly though, and now the search box is hardly worth bothering with. |
|
By:
did he discover a performance related premium charge hidden in the small print of his contract?
|
|
By:
bff i read alot of your posts and enjoy them. you intreague me greatly. can you tell me a little more about yourself please?
|
|
By:
Hi paulme, hard to know where to start so what do you want to know?
|
|
By:
well i guess the obvious thing you've been asked is do you work for betfair?
if not, what do you do? if you don't mind me asking also did/do you have a previous/alternate username? |
|
By:
Gee Whizz so you've been reading others posts as well, no I don't work for betfair, I thinks thats
been said because I have tried to justify the pc2 when really its not my job too so I upset to many posters that feel bad about it. My reason for doing that was purely because I cant see any alternative in the greyhound markets so I wont be using the other exchange as its too poor after 10 years of chances its never really drawn much of the crowd in. I am avoiding pc2 issues now and also its not fair for me to keep commenting about betfair as there only trying to run a business and I don't want to get in there bad books by being negative. I have not had a previous username but I have had this account a few years but registered on the forum with name in july, diddnt proof the name so it came out the way in looks now. |
|
By:
How about you paulme, have you anything to reveal about yourself?
|
|
By:
what would you like to know?
can i ask what you do do then? if not a betfair plant, which someone else speculated. ...also can i take this opportunity to congratulate you on your part in the thread "posters who work for betfair" co-starring acquiesce. it truly was a fine piece of work from all involved. bravo! |
|
By:
That was quite a funny thread as its based on paranoia, suspicion and mystery which has to be taken light hearted unless its the Spanish inquisition or any political situation when its best to keep your mouth shut.
I am currently not working but I did run a business for many years installing security systems but I have decided to concentrate on other ventures and one of my passions has been greyhound races and programming software for perdition modeling of such events, Would of been better ifI had worked on horse racing but the dogs is my first choice but look forward to looking at other sports in the future. What type of betting do you focus on paulme ? |
|
By:
is gambling your income then?
i like betting on football, horses, tennis and darts. i never make any money overall. just yo yo around or make a loss. just can't seem to catch a break  |
|
By:
No gambling isn't my income but I would like to make money by gambling as its a dream of mine and
I have loved predicting things since I was a boy, I used to make barometers and study weather patterns and clouds when I was 12 because I loved to predict the weather but that game is harder than sports prediction as even with the power-fullest computers and satellites its still sometimes impossible to know all the possible outcomes. Would you say you are a recreational gambler paulme, think we've all done a fair bit of that in our time[;)] |
|
By:
certainly. i have a real job. although i bet everyday.
can i ask what your income is then if not gambling or a job? hope you don't mind me asking. have enjoyed chatting with you, you seem like a good egg  |
|
By:
I am Just living off savings at the moment paulme. Been reading the thread "posters that work for betfair" and it sounds like the mad hatters tea party, the reference had as a hatter comes from the fact that hatters would use mercury in making hats and it sent them mad eventually, reckon its possible that trying to make an edge gambling has the same effect as all the symptoms are seen around that thread and in the forum sometimes, perhaps the forum should be called "betfair through the looking glass"
|
|
By:
mistake *mad as a hatter and not had as a hatter, lol
|
|
By:
i think my favourite bit is the bigot accusation and acquiesce explaining why he isnt a bigot about 7 times. i laughed hard
|
|
By:
A search? I've been using betfair for years and I'd never noticed it! LOL I just normally look in the inplay football matches for the day.
|
|
By:
I just normally look in the inplay football matches for the day.
Isn't there usually a few hundered though? As to the search I think it's "only" a couple of years old. It's fine without the new Beta mess they're trying to force on us though. |