Betfair censured over claims of better odds

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a Betfair poster campaign on the grounds of misleading stats. In the advert Betfair claim if punters had placed £10 at their SP odds you would have been £460,817 better off than placing them at the industry SP.

The ASA adjudication said the claim wasn’t qualified in any way that punters were likely to infer that such a fugure was typical of what they could expect. In its judgement the ASA said

“We noted Betfair’s data demonstrated that a significant majority of winners had a significantly lower difference between the BSP and the industry SP”

Try; 18% of all races Betfair returned an SP equal or worst than the industry SP against just 12% that Betfair SP was 40% or better.

What Betfair also didnt say in their advert that any advantage in obtaining these odds would be wiped out through the commission structure and the premium charge. With 88% of all race winners offered at equal or less than 20% higher than the industry SP, if you could pick every winner going, there would be little point placing your bets with Betfair against the tradional bookmakers.