Yahoo! launches user-friendly betting exchange
- Added:
- Mar 31, 2005
"Yahoo! Betting":http://yahoo.betfair.com aims to make Betfair’s exchange model more simple and accessible to a mass-market audience.
The betting exchange matches gamblers against each other online, negating the need to go to traditional online bookmakers. Bets can be placed on a range of events, such as sports and current events.
The service has been built by Betfair specifically for Yahoo! consumers. The odds on Yahoo! Betting are based on those available on the main Betfair betting exchange.
However, the odds will be presented in a simpler fashion. While Betfair presents digital odds, Yahoo! Betting will feature only the more commonly used fractional odds.
Yahoo! UK already has a betting section, but has previously offered only odds comparisons, supplied by Oddschecker.
Alison Reay, Yahoo! UK commercial director, said: “Betfair has the flexible approach we were looking for and were happy to work with us to design a product to fit our users' needs.”
Betting exchange Betfair is currently considering a stock market flotation that could value the company at £700m. It currently has around 300,000 registered customers, however the deal with Yahoo! will see the firm exposed to the portal's huge customer base, which numbers some 10.6m unique users.
Martyn Holman, Betfair’s head of business development, said: “Yahoo!’s technology, the profile of their users and the fact that it is one of the top three sports betting information sites in the UK are just three reasons why Yahoo! is the right partner for Betfair to widen the exchange concept to the more occasional punter.”