Betting exchange Betfair has been forced to apologize to customers after a
system error allowed one client’s liability to exceed his available funds during
the running of Wednesday’s Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown. In what seemed an
obvious technical glitch, some exchange players were still allowed to bet on the
eventual winner, Voler La Vedette, at the vastly-inflated odds of 28-1 almost
throughout the three-mile contest and that erroneous price was still available
as the seven-year-old mare crossed the line 4 1/2 lengths clear of her rivals.
Betfair immediately suspended the win and place markets for the race and
later confirmed those markets were to be voided. More than £800,000 had been
accommodated at 28-1, which would have cost the unidentified layer a £23 million
payout. Extraordinarily, another £21 million was still available to bet at the
end of the race which would have resulted in a total payout of almost £600
million.
On Thursday, Betfair released the following statement regarding the affair:
“Firstly, we would like to re-iterate that anyone betting in-running in
yesterday’s Leopardstown race clearly received a very poor customer service and
betting experience. We apologize once again for this.
“We have identified the issue and replicated it in a test environment last
night. A fix was applied overnight, and is now subject to rigorous testing. A
further update on this will be made today.
“Contrary to some media speculation, we can confirm that all in-running bets
on this market would have been voided, had Voler La Vedette won or lost. There
was never any chance of the account in question profiting yesterday. The account
in question was also immediately suspended after the Leopardstown race.
“There has been some criticism from customers, and in the press, that Betfair
took too long to void. Quite simply, we made the decision after we were in full
possession of the all the facts and input from the relevant internal
departments. A decision was then made to void in accordance with our terms and
conditions.”