Betfair Official Blog

SP makes Betfair a winner on the first of 50 Glorious Days

The opening stanza in Sydney's 50 Glorious Days autumn racing carnival campaign went off with a bang at Randwick on Saturday, with the first NSW's first group 1 meeting of the season seeing punters gleeful after experiencing a barren autumn and summer as a result of Australia's crippling equine influenza outbreak.

The two features of the card were the 1600m Chipping Norton Stakes, won by tough nut Casino Prince, and the Galaxy Hcp, taken out by up-and-coming sprinter Typhoon Zed.

These two may have taken the honours on the turf, but another winner on the day was a new addition to the Betfair stable: its new starting price product.

Introduced to UK punters late last year and made available on Australian metropolitan markets last week, the Betfair SP provides an alternative to the traditional bookmakers' SP.

However, as it is determined by balancing bets placed by both backers and layers in a market, and devoid of the profit margins present in traditional SP betting, it is naturally geared to offer punters better value than its counterparts in SP and fixed odds.

It simply provides further proof that Betfair bestows their customers with greater choice and value in their betting experience.

Here's some proof using Randwick's card from Saturday as an example:

Race # Winner Betfair SP Bookies SP B-WAP Best Tote
1 Rio Osa $5.59 $5.50 $6.85 $6.00
2 Light Red $3.37 $3.30 $3.51 $2.90
3 Mr Profumo $6.60 $5.50 $5.98 $6.50
4 Chinchilla Rose $15.00 $17.00 $18.52 $16.30
5 Musket $2.72 N/A N/A $2.30
6 Typhoon Zed $12.52 $8.50 $9.59 $12.30
7 Casino Prince $8.00 $7.00 $8.47 $7.90
8 Danleigh $7.80 $6.50 $7.83 $7.10
9 Hot Danish $1.89 $1.80 $1.91 $1.90

Key: Betfair SP = Betfair Starting Price; Bookies SP = on-course bookmakers' Starting Price; B-WAP = Betfair Weighted Average Price (odds less Betfair's maximum 5% commission on net winnings); Best Tote = best odds amongst the three Australian totes.

As you can see, either Betfair's new Starting Price or its average exchange price (in reality, the nearest thing to a 'tote' price on Betfair's exchange) offered punters the best odds available on all nine races at Randwick.

With this in mind, make sure your Sydney autumn carnival provides you 50 glorious days by having a punt on Betfair now.