As reported by the Racing Post, the Rails Bookmakers Association will try to demonstrate to William Hill and other major firms who are considering a change in their method of hedging bets that a vibrant on-course market can still exist without the use of betting exchanges.
William Hill last week announced a break with tradition switching their hedging activities from the racecourse to betting exchanges, primarily Betdaq.
“You can\’t blame them if it makes commercial sense, however the guys are keen to demonstrate that a well-run ring does still return proper margins for the off-course industry and that it remains the fairest market in the world for getting an average price of a horse,” said Robin Grossmith, Chairman of the Rails Bookmakers Association.
“The ring would like to demonstrate that we can still have a strong market on course without using exchanges. That\’s what bookmakers will attempt to do at Folkestone, though of course it\’s on a voluntary basis,” he said announcing the plan of action.
“It\’s difficult to know how many bookmakers use the exchanges on a typical day, as several just monitor exchanges without hedging through them. Only six in the whole country have declared to the Levy Board they actively use them, but you would suspect there are a lot more.”
Monday\’s action is on a voluntary basis and it remains unclear whether it will be repeated.
“Everyone is keen to try something. The whole industry is on a downer because of exchanges. For the traditional bookmakers, it\’s not a level playing field,” added Grossmith.
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