Though the idea of betting exchanges hasn’t caught on in the US yet, there’s a war breaking out on the other side of the pond. Betdaq, which was recently purchased by Ladbrokes have begun an aggressive marketing campaign in an attempt to win some market share of the industry leader Betfair.
When I say a war, I mean it. Their attack comes complete with tanks. During last week’s Grand National horse race, Betdaq placed two tanks painted in company colours and displaying their new bonus offer on the front lawn of Betfair’s headquarters!
Betdaq claim that punters have had enough of Betfair’s high commission rates and the controversial ‘premium charge’ which is basically just a tax on winning exchange users. As part of their attack on Betair, they launched the new Betdaq Manifesto which makes a number of promises that exchange users might want to take note of.
They’re offering new customers up to £200 worth of free bets (when you pay £25 in commission you get a £25 free bet) as well as a commission free first month on the site. Furthermore they have promised that they aren’t going to increase their commission rates and that they’re never going to introduce a premium charge which they deem to be ‘horrible’.
They’re also making the first UK horse race every day commission free which is a nice gesture and lastly they’ve vowed to make in-play betting as fair as possible saying:
BETDAQ aims to provide markets that put all members on a level playing field when betting in-running. BETDAQ will continuously monitor in-running markets and seek to implement optimal in-running delays to achieve this aim.
It seems a bit strange to put operational strategies in their manifesto but it certainly reflects well on them and shows them to be focused on keeping their customers happy. Of late, the same can’t be said for Betfair.
The problem with Betdaq has always been the liquidity in their markets. They never really made a dent in Betfair’s market share, but if they can steal a bit and make more money available for their players to back and lay, things might well begin to snowball for them. Let’s wait and see!
