Betfair has launched new horse racing pages for the Exchange in 'beta' format and would like your feedback. The Product team explains what is changing and why - please leave your comments at the end of the article.
You can now bet with Betfair using smartphones, tablets and APIs but we know that, for many of you, the desktop Exchange site is Betfair, the 'magic machine', the game changer that shook up the bookmaking establishment 14 years ago.
It inspires passion, ownership and engagement so we understand the depth of feeling when even the smallest changes are introduced.
We recognise that the launch of a new desktop site and the integration of a traditional Sportsbook represented considerable change, and equally we recognise we haven't always got the changes right.
But the Exchange is at the heart of what we do. We have listened to your feedback and are focused on creating a fast and reliable Exchange betting interface, underpinned with the latest technology which will allow us to add great new features.
We have started this process and are beginning by upgrading the horse racing Exchange market pages on the new desktop site. We have made available a beta version so that you can get an early view of the changes and an opportunity to provide feedback.
The new beta pages can be accessed through the Horse Racing - Beta link in the Exchange All Sports menu on the desktop site.
What's changed?
You told us you wanted us to focus on the Exchange, so we are removing Sportsbook integration from the Exchange market pages.
We now have a dedicated area of the website for placing Sportsbook bets so we have removed both the multiples odds toggle and the multiples tab in the betslip.
As a result, we have also removed the functionality to retain selections in the betslip when navigating between different markets to support placing multiples.
You will need to click the Sportsbook tab on the main site navigation to continue to place multiples bets.
You told us to make the site easier to use so page layout is now responsive and the website stretches to fill the entire browser window size. Depending on the size of the browser, price buttons are now larger and easier to select. More selections can now be viewed without scrolling in both the market and betslip sections.
You told us to make changes to races clearer so any non-runners are retained at the bottom of the market and we have added the time and reduction factor at point of withdrawal.
You told us to improve the betslip experience so:
- The ordering of selections now follows the order the selections appear in the market. - Payout/liability entry for dutching lay selections is now available for both potential and placed bets, - Matched bets can be hidden from the list of placed bets for customers that want to focus only on unmatched bets. - Live Video has been removed from the betslip area but is still accessible through a link in the market header.
What's next?
We will continue to enhance the beta version until we believe the functionality of the existing horse racing market pages is exceeded.
At that point we will replace all the horse racing pages on the new site with the beta version. We envisage a phased migration to the new pages based on customer location starting in mid-May 2014.
Once we have completed the migration for horse racing markets we will then move on to improving the experience for football and other sports later in the year.
Here are other new features we have planned based on your feedback:
- The ability to configure the in-play market prices refresh rate to values from the current default of 15 seconds down to one second.
- Faster notification of market status changes. As soon as markets are turned in-play, suspended or closed the status change will be reflected in the market screen. Currently these transitions can take up to 15 seconds to be displayed.
- Faster notification of bet status updates. As soon as unmatched bets are matched the status change will be reflected in the betslip.
- A dutching calculator in the betslip for entry of back bets to a specified total stake.
- Customisation of the markets displayed in the Horse Racing Today's Card menu by providing the capability to filter the menu to only display markets from countries you are interested in.
- Provide Timeform in-play betting hints. The Timeform information available will be enhanced to include insight into potential in-play betting strategies based around the previous running styles of the horses in the race.
We intend to provide regular updates as to the progress of the work being undertaken here in the What's New on Betfair? section on Betting.Betfair.
Finally, it remains our intention to ensure the new site is superior to the classic, or old site, before we consider closing the latter.
If you have any comments about the new racing pages or questions for the Betfair Product team, then please post your comments here: btfr.co/RacingPages
Last week, the Betfair Product team outlined a series of enhancements in the new Exchange Horse Racing pages - currently being rolled out in 'beta' form - and they can now announce two new key features...
1) A dutching calculator in the betslip for entry of back bets to a specified total stake
To activate this function first add the selections to the betslip then click on 'Stake' in the header above the selections to bring up the stake entry dialog box.
Enter the total stake to be dutched across the selections and click ok.
The betslip will then calculate the individual stakes required to achieve an equal return if any of the selections are successful.
2) Enhanced Timeform information for each race
Timeform in-play hints and individual runner comments are now available for UK, Ireland, Dubai and US races. These augment the already available Timeform View and 1-2-3 prediction.
The in-play hints can give a great insight into potential in-play betting strategies based around the previous running styles of the horses in the race.
To view the Timeform information for a race simply select the 'Timeform' checkbox in the market header.
As a reminder you can access the new market pages through the Horse Racing - Beta link in the Exchange All Sports menu on the desktop site.
If you have any comments or questions on the new pages, please leave comments HERE > btfr.co/RacingPages Thanks to those who commented on the original article - they have all been forwarded to the Product team.
Last week, the Betfair Product team outlined a series of enhancements in the new Exchange Horse Racing pages - currently being rolled out in 'beta' form - and they can now announce two new key features...1) A dutching calculator in the betslip for en