The ARB is using a flawed report which is based on incorrect facts and ignores five years of precedent to push its agenda of keeping competition out of the wagering industry.

"Tasmanians and the racing industry should be very wary of this report," said Mark Davies of Betfair today. "It has been commissioned by people running an agenda and is based on incorrect assumptions about the UK experience with betting exchanges."

The ARB’s report ignores the Productivity Commission’s findings on the price elasticity of wagering and flies in the face of basic economic theory. Equally, its estimates of Betfair’s market share in the UK are wide of the mark, and it ignores hard evidence from both Britain and Australia. Claims in the report have been strongly disputed since its release and are contradicted in at least one recent report that was not commissioned by either of the protagonists.

The best evidence of whether Betfair has the sort of impact that the ARB suggests can be found by looking at what has happened in the UK since Betfair launched its operations in that country over 5 years ago. Betfair has clearly had no detrimental impact, given that since June 2000:

• The UK tote has never been stronger
• The three major bookmakers (William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral) have all recorded record profits.
• Total funding to the UK racing industry has doubled
• Prize money is at record highs
• Race-day attendances are at their highest levels since the World War II.

Betfair does not claim sole credit for the growth in prosperity of British racing but that growth does suggest that the scare campaign being run by the certain members of the ARB and others is completely misconceived.

Until the recent television rights debacle, which has clearly led to an overall decrease in wagering revenue, all major totalizators pools in Australia were experiencing strong growth. All of the evidence suggests that the Australian racing industry has much to gain and nothing to lose if Betfair is granted a licence to operate in this country.

For The Virtual FormGuide analysis of the ARB's Access Economics report go here.

Media Release - Betfair

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