Good evening, everyone. I wasn’t planning to update, but I thought it might be helpful in case someone else experienced a similar situation.
Today, during the 14:45 race, it was unexpectedly called off while in progress due to an injured horse. Understandably, Betfair voided all in-running bets for this market (fortunately, I hadn’t traded in-running on this one).
For about two and a half hours, my account showed an exposure of -£23.49, which was the amount I was down on the market. The race was scheduled to be re-run at 19:25. Some bookmakers cancelled all bets, while others didn’t. Betfair, in their decision, did not cancel but applied a Rule 4 (R4) reduction of 28% to the pre-race bets.
However, when they reopened the market, my exposure inexplicably increased to £181. After a lengthy phone conversation during which their explanation seemed to change several times, they claimed that I had placed a bet of £157 one second before the race started, which was not matched and subsequently lapsed. Yet, this supposed bet does not appear in my matched, unmatched, or lapsed records on my account—even though the operator insisted he could see it had existed and lapsed. The most baffling part is that the exposure didn’t show up until after the market was reopened. They suggested it might have been taken in-running, which is impossible since my settings were not configured to keep bets in-running, as I was trading pre-race. So, the mystery of where this bet went remains unsolved, as it’s nowhere to be found in my account history. Betfair’s final stance? Not their fault—unsurprisingly.
The market’s reopening and the pricing of the particular runner at 6.4, with my reduction crossover at 5.2, resulted in an additional loss of around £40—a frustrating outcome, to say the least. This issue took hours to address over the phone, coupled with considerable stress. The operator’s assertion that “you must be wrong as our system doesn’t make errors” was particularly irksome, to which I could only respond incredulously, “Are you kidding me? ‘Voler Va Dette’—what a joke of a company.”
Rant over.
If you’ve experienced anything similar, I strongly advise contacting IBAS, as I have done.
One thought on “Another weekend, another problem with betfair”
Similar thing happened to me. Was £14 up when the race was called off. Hours later the email came through about my trades having been voided. Then just after, at about 5.30pm, my balance drops £230 and so I checked the UAE race and low-and-behold I’m exposed for the same amount!! Traded out for a fiver loss and thanked my lucky stars for my own vigilence! Not worth a call to Betfair imps for this as they never tell you want you a) want to hear and b) need to know 🙁