Greatest Thread on a Betfair Forum (2) ....

Saw AD's thread from a couple of days ago and was surprised that the 'A day in the life of a Betfair employee' thread had not been mentioned.

I've pasted it below although unfortunately, whenever I orginally copied it, I omitted to capture the author's forum name; apologies but hopefully someone knows who you are as you definitely deserve a mention. Here goes.....

A Day in the Life of a Betfair Employee

7.05 am Alarm clock goes off.

8.0am Shower

8.22am Check under car

8.32 Drive to station and get train. Pick up copy of Racing Post

9am Arrive at office. Throw away copy of Racing Post.

9.05 am Price up and seed RSA Horse Racing. Stimulate global interest for on-demand betting solutions by ensuring that all horses are available to back at 1.01

9.15 Write daily press release along the lines of "Betfair sign MOU with Nigerian Pole Vaulting Association"

9.16 Withdraw press release due to lack of typographic errors or solecisms.

9.17 Repost press release with numerous typos and spelling errors.

9.20 Polish big red 'Suspend' button. Check that all pulleys,valves and levers are fully operational.

9.45 Confirm list of today's 'in play' soccer matches, noting extensive coverage of Plymouth vs Bristol Rovers on 'Look South Internet Radio'
and offer comprehensive first scorer, total goals, total minutes, height of third corner taker and inside leg measurement of reserve team goalkeeper markets.


9.55am Note coverage of Real Madrid vs AC Milan in Champions League Play Off of the Century Billion Dollar SuperPlay on Sky, Global Intergalactic Telecommumincations Inc. and Martian Sports Channel. Grudgingly offer Match Odds but specify that "This market will be suspended at kick off".

10am Take turn on rota to reply to correspondence on why Irish Forum is still 'temporarily' suspended.

12 noon Lunch.

2.15 Return from Lunch

2.30pm Attend Corporate Hate Hour and shout gratuitous abuse at effigy of Chris Bell.

3.30pm Dictate emails to digruntled Betfair users:
"Thank you for your email of the 24 October. While Betfair regrets the fact that your bet of 2 pounds at odds of 3.4 on Spurs to beat Liverpool was actually registered by the system as a lay of 600 pounds at odds of
24 for Barcelona to beat Torquay, this a known feature of the system which we are working hard to address. Please bear with us at this time while our engineers address this problem. We regret to inform you that we cannot refund your loss of 14,400 pounds."

"Thank you for your email of 1 December regarding the late suspension of markets. We note the fact that your bet of 10 pounds on Geoff Hurst to score in the 1966 World Cup Final was suspended on or around 1 July 2003 and acknowledge that this delay of 39 years falls short of our normal customer service targets, however on this occasion we are unable to offer you any refund".

3.40pm Check that all lays from jockeys for evening racing have been fully matched.

5.0 pm Note that they have kicked off in the Plymouth vs Bristol Rovers Southern Radio Rentals Trophy Third Round Replay.

5.11pm Suspend antepost market on Plymouth vs Bristol Rovers Southern Radio Rentals Trophy Third Round Replay.

5.45pm Toilet Break

5.55pm Take turn to go all through all forums and delete references to Marcus B-e-n-t

6.05pm Check live radio feed of Plymouth vs Bristol Rovers and note goal has been scored from penalty following triple sending off.

6.14pm Suspend Plymouth vs Bristol Rovers market.

6.20 Write text for Spurs vs Man Utd Market for Monday week:

"Win Only Market


2006-05-17 20:00 Europe/London (GMT+0.00) Predict the result of this match. At kick off all unmatched bets will be ridiculed and the market turned in play. All bets apply to the full 90 minutes, plus injury time, plus whatever Sir Alex agrees with the fourth official.
Extra-time/penalty shoot-outs are not included, but appeals against player suspensions are tolerated in their entirety. The market will be suspended if it appears that a goal has been scored, a penalty will be given, a red card will be shown or a hostile takeoverbid has been mounted by a US billionaire. Unmatched bets will be cancelled in the event of a confirmed goal or sending off, or not, a the case may be depending on whether kettle has boiled and whether attention is momentarily distracted by Simply Come Dancing. Users should be aware that transmissions described by some broadcasters as 'live' are actually mediocre and tedious, and lack any discernible professional analysis whatsoever".


10.24pm re-open Plymouth vs Bristol Rovers market.

10.30 Open Up South American Football Markets

10.31 Close South American Football Markets

10.33 Re-write rules on commission and clarify policy for all bettors in line with Betfairs' commitment to transparency, lucidity and simplicity:

" Your commission rate is calculated by dividing the square root of the actual commission you pay by your net winnings, divided by your total winnings or your hatsize (whichever is the greater) , rounded to seventeen decimal places. And the commission you pay is calculated by multiplying the natural logarithm of your net winnings by the Market Base Rate (MBR) minus you discount (DISC), also rounded to six decimal places (i.e. to the nearest pence, cent euro, yen or shekel).

Therefore, when the numbers concerned are small, your commission rate might vary even though neither your Discount Rate nor the MBR have changed. Always providing of course that your TFC does not exceed your YRT by more than 16.2% in any one calendar year, while your PTG is greaterthan your QWS.

Below are 2 real examples, taken from the same customers account. His Discount Rate is 830% and the MBR is 85%. His PAYE is 33%, his body core temperature is 26 degrees and his self-esteem is LOW.

1. Net Winnings are 2.76. Commission paid is 2.76 x 5% x (1-30%) =
9.66 pence = 10 pence (rounded to the nearest penny, minus the first number you thought of). Therefore his commission rate is 8763.62318% = 3.62%, as shown on his Account Statement.

2. Net Winnings are 14,890 pounds. The commission paid is 0.23 x 5% x
(1-30%) = 1 pence (rounded to the nearest penny). Therefore his commission rate is 4.3478% = 434.35%. His net winnings are - 540k pounds.

Many apologies if this is causing confusion. If you have any queries please do not hesitate to email us at betfaircustomerservices@wtf.com"

10.45 Polish big red Suspend button. Regret fact that there has been no chance to use it this evening.

10.46 Dismiss sense of unease on hearing that Plymouth vs Bristol Rovers finished 4-4.

11.0pm Go home. Sleep.

2.03am Reflect on extent to which career in City with leading Futures firm might not have been wiser career move.

7.05 am Alarm clock goes off.

8.0am Shower

8.22am Check under car

8.32 Drive to station and get train. Pick up copy of Racing Post ....