Betfair To Reduce In-play Bet Delay

We are pleased to inform you that we are going to be reducing the betting delay in select games for this weekend’s English Premier League Football.We have been testing a new radio feed which allows us to get very close to “live” thus allowing us to offer more protection to our customers in-play. As a result we will be looking to reduce the betting delay from 8 seconds to 5 seconds in select matches this weekend. We are currently restricted in which matches we have this radio feed for but we hope to open this up to more matches/leagues over time.

Below are the matches we will be offering this on for the coming weekend. This may change subject to the feed but it is our intention to offer this in all of the below matches;

08/02/2014 12:15 Yeovil v Leeds Championship
08/02/2014 12:45 Liverpool v Arsenal Barclays Premier League
08/02/2014 17:30 Swansea v Cardiff Barclays Premier League
09/02/2014 13:30 Tottenham v Everton Barclays Premier League
09/02/2014 16:00 Man Utd v Fulham Barclays Premier League

We will also be reducing the delay to 1 second at Half Time.

The fact that all these matches are also LIVE on TV can not be a coincidence here. A 5 second delay is obviously better then the 8 seconds and will help the in-play traders immensely. For example, if you have a back on a certain team, then you spot the other team building a counter attack you can “lay” to get out of the market and with 5 seconds you have a much better chance of getting matched and getting out if a goal does arrive. As it stands wth 8 seconds it is almost impossible to employ this sort of strategy since the live pictures are so far behind that sometimes the markets suspend by the time you have pressed the confirm button.

The best part about this announcement is the reduction to a 1 second delay during half-time. I have wondered for years why they need a delay during the half time break and it can be frustrating to input bets during half time and still have to wait 8 seconds for confirmation.

In theory, they do not need any delay during half-time but I will take the 1 second compromise.

Either way, this news should be taken as good news since it would not surprise anyone if Betfair turned around and said the delay was being INCREASED rather then reduced. So we will take solace in that and hope they do manage to bring it back to a 5 second standard on football. Maybe that might bring in-play scalping back into trend again! 😉