Other / Editor / 13 October 2008 / Leave a comment

'Mr Two Million' marks international direction of the exchange as punters sign up from far and wide.

Betfair has signed up its 2,000,000th customer and, in a sign of the worldwide popularity of the betting exchange, the history-making punter is not English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh but a 59-year-old civil servant from Sweden.

Bo Öhrman of Linköping was shown the website by his brother and instantly saw the potential to make money. Accordingly, his first bet - a flutter on Wall St finishing down on a day's trading - was a winner.

"You have to back yourself in life and when my brother showed me the site I could see instantly that it gave me a wide range of choices and I could pick my own odds," said Bo.

"It's certainly more fun betting on Betfair than it is betting on the stock market at the moment."

To celebrate the milestone Betfair is flying Bo over to London for a VIP weekend in the capital where he hopes to take in some Premier League football and a West End show.

Bo became 'Mr Two Million' just 20 months after Betfair broke through seven-figures, a feat that took more than six years to achieve.

Betfair's customer base is becoming increasingly international as punters around the world take to the exchange model of betting.

David Yu, CEO of Betfair, said: "In a year when we won a Queen's Award for International Trade, it is fitting that Betfair's two millionth account comes from outside the UK.

"Our international customers are already an essential part of our business and they are growing larger in number every day, so congratulations to Mr Öhrman - he's joined the world's biggest online betting community."

And it sounds like Mr Two Million is a shrewd member of that community, Bo offered this advice to other Betfair customers: "Patience is very important. You must trust yourself and you can't risk money you can't afford to lose."