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16 March 2006
Punter Who Backed Doomed Horse
Wins £20,000
An
online punter won £20,000 after backing an apparently
doomed horse during the first race of the Cheltenham
Festival.
The 46-year-old man was
undeterred by the fact that the horse, Noland, ridden by
Ruby Walsh, was in 14th place with three jumps to go in the
Supreme Novices' Hurdle yesterday. At the click of a mouse
from his home in Pontypridd, south Wales, he placed a
£20 bet on it winning a "split -second" after a fellow
gambler decided its chances of being first-past-the-post
were 999-1.
The so-called "in-running"
bet is a speciality of the relatively new "exchange" betting
firms, which work by providing a platform for pitting an
individual - offering odds on a race - against the punter,
and charging a commission of up to 5 per cent on that
transaction. The person who decided the 999-1 odds is now
liable for the £20,000 payout.
"Two different individuals
had completely conflicting views of how the race would turn
out. One punter thought it had no chance and put up odds of
999-1 against, and the other punter backed it and asked for
a price," said Mark Davies, a spokesman for Betfair,
the largest operator in the £1bn-plus "exchange" sector
which accepted the Cheltenham bet.
Mr Davies said the lucky
punter, who did not want to be identified, was a regular
customer, albeit one spending small amounts. "I spoke to him
and he was still struggling to understand how he got such
great odds," said Mr Davies, explaining that the man was
ready to stake a bet at odds of 7-1 on Noland, but had
unwittingly chosen the "split-second" when the vastly better
odds became available online.
The £20,000 is
thought to be one of the biggest online "in-running" wins at
such a high-profile event. Its football equivalent came in
an FA Cup encounter between Manchester City and Tottenham
Hotspur in February 2004. Manchester City were trailing 3-0
at half-time and were down to 10 men. It attracted a flood
of small but ultimately lucrative bets in favour of City,
who finally won 4-3.
As newcomers to the
£23bn gambling industry, betting exchanges have met
with resistance from traditional bookmakers, who claim they
have brought the industry's integrity into question.
Allegations of widespread corruption reached a peak two
years ago when the jump jockey Sean Fox apparently "dived"
from his mount. He was later cleared on appeal.
At the height of the
furore, which betting exchanges claimed was stoked by their
high street rivals, the chief executive of Ladbrokes claimed
that at least one race a day was being fixed.
Claims of foul play were
levelled against betting exchanges because they allow
customers to set the odds against a horse to lose. Aspects
of last summer's Gambling Act, aimed at bringing greater
transparency to online betting, will force exchanges to
register punters' details such as home addresses and bank
accounts. The measures will be introduced next September and
will include a separate licensing regime for betting
exchanges.
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