BetFair Tightens Controls for Safer Betting

BetFair is one of the oldest, biggest, and most reputable bookmakers out there. After its launch in 2000, it established itself as a reliable platform with unique, almost revolutionary offers to users.

The best examples include:

• Betting exchange. Apart from betting against the bookmaker, the users can bet against each other, something no other platform offered before BetFair.
• Sports betting and gambling mix. BetFair was also one of the first bookies to combine sports betting with gambling.
• Innovative types of bets. Live betting and price rush bets were introduced to the sports betting market by BetFair in particular.

But what makes BetFair controversial is its dedication to responsible betting mechanisms. This online casino became one of the first to adopt them, but over the last five years, it faced repeated complaints from its users and their relatives.

BetFair’s Responsible Gambling Policies

Before deciding if this platform is suitable for you, regardless of its unique features, you should understand it better.

You can find detailed overviews on this website, coupled with facts about what kind of sports betting bonuses you can get, how to register at BetFair, and what sports events it supports.

Now, as for responsible betting principles, BetFair offers quite a few. There are deposit limits, time outs, self-exclusions, reality checks, etc. Do they always work, though? No, and BetFair’s story of failures clearly illustrates it.

Luke Ashton

Luke Ashton, one of BetFair’s sports bettors, killed himself in April 2021 after accumulating a debt of over $5000.

He already faced serious debts before, in 2019, but back then, his family found a way to solve the problem by selling their house.

After visiting BetFair over 100 times per day and getting deeper and deeper into debt, Mr. Ashton finally committed suicide, leaving his family behind.

In the investigation that followed, Mr. Ashton’s loved ones accused BetFair of having faulty mechanisms that failed to notice the problem until it was too late.

Richard Clarke, managing director of BetFair’s controller company, admitted that BetFair failed Mr. Ashton.

The platform studies 277 elements of its users’ activity to identify those who are at risk and restrict their access to the platform, but as this situation has shown, the system is deeply imperfect.

Following this incident, BetFair decided to tighten its responsible gaming mechanisms. Specifically, it focused on the following aspects.

Deposit Limits

Now, BetFair allows setting daily, weekly, and monthly deposit limits. How does it work? It’s simple: problematic bettors can decide how much they can afford to deposit and the frequency of these deposits. BetFair will restrict their access to the site once this limit is breached.

Self-Exclusion

Bettors can contact BetFair with a request to exclude them from the platform for a certain period of time. They won’t be able to create duplicate accounts either.

Time Outs

If BetFair notices a potentially risky bettor, they can give them a temporary time out so that they cool off a bit. This mini-ban can last for 15 minutes, an hour, or a day.

Reality Checks

The most important responsible betting feature BetFair introduced is the reality checks. If it spots the warning signs in a specific user’s behavior.

It can introduce a whole array of measures, from forced temporary exclusion to an outright ban,

The Growing Popularity of BetFair Despite the Complaints

Regardless of the tragic incidents and BetFair’s acceptance of its guilt, people didn’t start choosing to bet on its platform any less.

In fact, its revenue for 2024 exceeded $14 billion, which was a ⅕ rise from the 2023 numbers. Clearly, BetFair is doing something right — it just has to improve its responsible betting mechanisms further to ensure the safety of its users.

Are you an ardent fan of sports interested in similar news? You can keep an eye out for various sports events, festivals, tournaments, and matches here.

It’s a great way to understand what’s going on in the world of sports and what exciting dates you can look forward to.