Starting Price

It is, and may I say you are very well named to spearhead this campaign.

The SP's are clearly fixed and the group used to fix the SP's offer prices less than Betfair and less than their colleagues. Bye bye SP.

I'd be surprised if the SP system survived a challenge under competition law (though who would bring one? Not Betfair!).

Though I expect it would be out of the frying pan and into the fire, as punters would likely end up with even worse terms.

Hi Ram...Betfair will outlast the SP system, it's just a matter of when. Now the slots are limited to £2 and when this starts you can bet your life that the SP's will be even more in favour of the shops. This being the case the shops will struggle to take a bet with odds being better on Betfair who I expect will soon be having a massive advertising campaign with explanations for those that are not aware of Betfair.

Will BF carry a coffin around that's supposed to represent the death of the books?

Hey mouse...get real and look to the future and be prepared. The books aren't there for the SP's (that's only the chosen few that offer smaller odds) they will always be there as middle men for Betfair and the racegoers that don't have smart phones.

What I'd like to know is, away from the front end of the market at a run of the mill meeting, what sort of money can you get on before you start cannibalising the Betfair SP? Are there any articles/data on this anywhere?

Difficult one to answer Mr Carp, but you are on the right track with your idea to have a bot drip-feeding into the exchange im the last 5 minutes or so pre-race.

I am thinking of going autonomous next year mouse, depending on how things play out. Not sure what I'll end up doing when I'm not working then

That's how I do it anyway, because I have no way of testing how robust/trustworthy Betfair SP is.

Another thing I've wondered, is there people getting money on after the race has started and before the SP is determined? I don't know if I'm being paranoid, but the SP always seems to be shorter than what was available just before the off if a horse gets a flyer from the stalls or jumps off quickly over the jumps and the opposite if my selection doesn't? Like I say, maybe I'm just imagining it?

Yeah, that does happen quite a lot.

Have you noticed how the SP's have slowly started to increase? How else can shops make up the loss of profits from the slots?

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Have you noticed how the SP's have slowly started to increase? How else can shops make up the loss of profits from the slots?

Do you mean decrease?

they'll start charging to use the toilet before the SP's get any better (Nap) ...