You're a betting exchange operator so, unless you're SportingOptions (who apparently seeded their site first with their own money and then on credit, eventually doing bust with debts totalling £5.4 million and over £3 million 'missing' from the
SportingOptions Clients Account), you're not laying the bets yourself, so you don't care who wins or loses, right?
At least, 'wrong' in the nascent stages of your exchange's development, anyway.
"the minnow betting exchange operator who entertains hopes of one day being a dirty great big beached whale does have a reason to care."
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who wins or loses, nor how much they win or lose, but the minnow betting exchange operator who entertains hopes of one day being a dirty great big beached whale (weighing in at 15st, I've got the visual bit right already) of a betting exchange operator does have a reason to care.
The opening caveat notwithstanding, betting exchanges don't offer bets, but they need customers who do offer bets if they are going to grow.
Such 'price setters' are very important, as they provide visual liquidity, thus encouraging prospective users who surf the site to join.
And price setting is a time-consuming activity.
"If they are getting picked off by 'price-hitters,' they soon stop doing it, thus bringing infant betting exchange growth to an abrupt halt."
The kind of person who might consider spending hours upon hours price setting, and trading generally, is going to be doing so in the hope of winning, and gaining a steady income from their efforts.
If they are getting picked off by 'price-hitters,' they soon stop doing it, thus bringing infant betting exchange growth to an abrupt halt.
I get a lot of phone calls from punters asking various things, not least, are there lots of arbing opportunities at backandlay yet?
To be honest, I'm pretty luke warm about such calls at this stage - pricehitting arbers just snatch liquidity away at the stand-out prices, they never put a bet on the screen themselves and basically take advantage of the slowness of some backandlay users to keep up with the market moves on Big Blue.
Hence, while I cannot influence events, I do kind of find myself rooting for anyone who devotes a lot of time to adding liquidity to the site.
That 'rooting' doesn't really manifest itself in any tangible way, but to say I don't have an interest in seeing a particular type of user do well in the formative stages of the site's growth would, in my opinion, be inaccurate.
BBC
