The whole point of a betting exchange such as Betfair is to provide an environment to bet in which is redundant of a bookmaker. All your bets are matched against other punters to remove the middle man and a small commission is paid on all winning bets. In theory it shouldn’t matter if you win or lose money as a punter because it has no effect on the company providing the service. Unfortunately it appears this isn’t case. I was talking to my friend Dave, who runs a detailed portal about betting sites and he let me in on a few things about BetUnFair.

In 2008 Betfair, who are the biggest betting exchange in the world, introduced a whopping 20% commission for consistent winners. Given that the starting commission paid is only 5% on any winning bet this shook things up considerably and now Betfair have decided, as of July 18th 2011, that commissions will be rising to between 40% and 60% for those that have lifetime profits over £250,000.

Whilst the figure of £250,000 might not seem like a lot who’s to say that over the next few years they won’t just periodically decrease this figure. At present BetUnFair claim that the new hike in commissions will only affect around 500 users. However anyone with over £250k in profit is likely not only providing a lot of liquidity on the exchanges but also making a living from trading sports as well. That’s 500 people out of a job right there, well that’s after they break £250k in their wives, brothers, mothers, sisters and cousins accounts.

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been using Betfair either. If your account is positive £250k or more then you’re paying the new increased fees. This seems particularly unfair on the punter that’s been using Befair for 10 years and making a consistent profit of around £25,000 per year.

Winning punters on Betfair are often thought to be those using software programs to trade very small margins during in play markets. Whilst these particular punters do provide little value to both other punters using Betfair and Betfair themselves the fact remains that in the group of 500 there will be a percentage who are relying on their individual knowledge or systems to profit. If what Betfair are trying to do with this move is weed out the robots then surely there’s better ways to do this than the proposed increase in commissions.

What this all really means is that Betfair are attempting to discourage winning punters from using the exchanges. In recent years they’ve already introduced a section of their website where you bet against Betfair as opposed to other punters and it looks more and more like they’re headed towards becoming an online bookmaker as opposed to a betting exchange.

From a company that once promised ‘Winners are always welcome’ the above changes come as a reel kick in the teeth. Befair really do need to decide if they are a betting exchange or a regular bookmaker.

If someone would provide a viable alternative to Betfair then maybe things would be different but until their monopoly is dissolved if we want to play we play by their rules. With less and less value to be had at Betfair I suggest you check out Dave’s site where he lists other sites good for football betting.

In case you missed it

Betfair has also managed to F-over winning casino players as well. You can read about this in the Online Poker Sites Betfair Warning. The short gist they claimed casino players who won in their generous bonus offer were “violating the spirit of the bonus”. These uses didn’t do a thing wrong. The spirit of gambling is the beat the house. Gamblers play all day long in games they have little long term chance to win, Betfair has made hundreds of millions of dollars from gamblers wagering –EV games, and the one time bettors win on a mass scale (due to BetUnFair’s error) rather than suck it up they flat out stole the money back.

Mu$on telling it to you like it is. I still play at Betfair. We still promote them on some of our portals, the changes and theft affected a small number of people… however who knows how things play out long term. At this point be cautious when betting with this company and consider other options such as Bookmaker, Pinnacle, Bodog and the likes where it is still possible to “Bet Fair” (pun intended). Okay I’m tired now as this was a long post. Mu$on must beat up on some more fish so I can have money to get my pimp on come Friday. Best of luck to all my degen readers, Mu$on here signing out.

We’re not the first to report that during the UFC fight last night, Brock Lesnar won with a TKO over Randy Couture in the 2nd round. We ARE apparently, the first to report that Brock Lesnar actually has a d!ck tattooed on his chest.

Losing three of his last four fights, with the last being a solid KTFO episode that ended with Rashad Evans literally knocking the shit out of Liddell in the UFC fight in Atlanta (rumors are that even Evans commented on smelling shit after knocking him out), Chuck Liddell is looking to come back for more. In this interview from Sherdog, he talks about ignoring good advice and Rashad taking advantage of his mistakes.

It seems like just yesterday that the adorable, cuddly little quarterback from Atlanta named Michael Vick was sentenced to jail time for the brutal dog fighting operation that he ran from a house in Virginia. Well, mark your calendars everyone because PETA’s favorite NFL athlete is set to be released on July 20, 2009. Assuming he doesn’t get into any jailhouse trouble and the state accepts his guilty plea for the still-pending state charges, he’ll be able to head to a halfway house and begin training to come back to the NFL.

Of course Commissioner Goodell holds the key to golden gates of the NFL and while he’s been tough on many offenders since taking control of the leagues conduct policy, he’s shown some compassion for players on first offenses. First offense or not however, this will prove to be the biggest test of Goodell and his judgment so far. A worldwide audience will be watching this and PETA, always on the prowl, will of course be set to pounce on the first opportunity to trash Vick and any team that dares host talks with the villain.

We don’t expect that to stop someone like Al Davis, who fires coaches at will and clearly only gives a shit about winning. In fact, we’re willing to bet that Davis or one of his representatives will be among the first to send Vick a gift basket once he gets out of the klink. They shoot each other all the time in Oakland anyway, so it’s doubtful too many fans there will care about Vick shooting a dog or two.

Now who’s taking the over/under on when Vick returns to the NFL?

Most in the MMA world felt that the brutal beat-down of Kimbo Slice at the hands of UFC dropout Seth Petruzelli was the beginning of the end for EliteXC. The second of what should have three live events broadcast on CBS was a monumental bomb with the marquis star of the fighting organization getting his ass whipped just 14 seconds into the fight. By a replacement fighter. Because old timer Ken Shamrock cut his eye just before the fight. In short, what could go wrong that night, did go wrong.

Late last evening the news began to spread that EliteXC was filing for bankruptcy protection and closing the doors to their 100K a month rental offices in California. Finger pointing started shortly after the Kimbo fight and today it elevated to a new level. With former executive TJ Thompson now blasting the leadership of the company, it’s clear that if his allegations are even remotely true, EliteXC seemed screwed from the get-go.

Somewhere Dana White has a massive hard-on right now. He made it clear early on that EliteXC was not ready to run with the UFC, pointing out that their stable of fighters were second-class for the most part and nowhere near the caliber of HIS fighters. Of course, it’s seems prophetic when he commented just a few weeks ago that Kimbo Slice “may be the baddest guy at the BBQ, but he’s not the baddest guy in MMA by any stretch”.

It appears that the ship that was once EliteXC has went down almost as quickly (just 22 months in business) as their proclaimed captain (Kimbo was knocked out in 14 seconds). It will be interesting to see where many of the fighters under EliteXC contracts wind up once the smoke clears.

UFC 89 helped cement the premier MMA fighting organization and their grasp on the UK market. After a rough start with their first event in 2002, the UFC has tried multiple times to penetrate the UK fan base. With the 11th most popular sports figure in the UK on their payroll, Michael Bisping and his surprising rise to fame has helped the UFC take over MMA in the UK.

Bisping put a beating on Chris Leben like no other MMA fighter has, landing punches at will and leaving Leben looking as if it were a baseball bat that hit his face versus Bisping’s gloves. The fight was lopsided and Bisping took down a unanimous decision to the roar from the UK audience. After the fight, Bisping was asked when he feels ready for a title fight. His response shows the level of maturity the talented fighter continues to demonstrate as he racks up win after win:

“I just take it one step at a time; I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” Bisping said. “All people seem to be talking about is a title shot. I’m seeing improvement with every fight. I’m getting better and better. All aspects of my game are getting better. Whenever it comes, I’ll be happy. I’m in no rush. If they said next fight, I’d be happy. lf they said five fights, I’d be happy.”

Perhaps the most entertaining quote from the night came not from a fighter but the promoter himself. Never at a loss of words when it comes to someone who crossed him, Dana White was asked by a UK fan if he would piss on Tito Ortiz if he saw him on fire. In typical unfiltered fashion, White replied: “I really wouldn’t. I’d toast a fucking marshmallow on him.”

Better yet, let’s stop people from Kentucky from gambling any day of the week. But only on 141 gambling sites that we deem are “bad” for people. Horse Racing? Bet your paycheck. The State Lottery? Sure thing, trade those food stamps for cash and play all day! Play a game of skill such as Poker or BlackJack online in the privacy of your home? Hell no.

That’s exactly what the moronic Governor of Kentucky is doing. He’s decided that it’s up to him and his fellow corrupt politicians to legislate morality and attempt to block people from accessing these sites. In the most recent court posturing, the judge in charge of the case has tossed out the arguments from the PPA, iMEGA, and the attorneys representing the sites involved. In fact, they now have less than 30 days to geo-block the sites so that Kentucky residents can’t access them. If they fail to adhere to this policy they will lose control of their domain names in Kentucky.

I could think of nothing more pressing right now (as we fight two wars, face the largest economic crisis of our generation, and have execs on Wall Street fucking us left and right) than to make sure folks like you and I aren’t ruining our lives playing poker at Full Tilt. I’m willing to bet with the press and attention that this dumb ass governor breshears (don’t care to capitalize or spell his fucking name right) is losing sleep over getting this passed through court.

Perhaps one day this guy will look in a mirror and think, ” You know there were probably more pressing issues I could have attacked with such zeal. Naw, it’s too much fun imposing on peoples private lives and mucking with their freedom”. Great job, dickhead. I’m sure this move will win you tons of votes come election time.