We have seen in the last 48 hours another huge scandal emerging in poker involving the player who has the highest lifetime earnings. You would think it inconceivable that someone so high profile and seemingly successful, would be involved in such alleged activities.
I think what it shows and you have to realise, is that when the stakes are high, people will potentially do anything to gain an edge. Each type of gambling has its own and often very unique risks. For now lets ignore what happens in the actual sporting arena (diff tweet).
With bookies the biggest risks are the platform and the bookie you are playing with. You are trusting them to pay you but also respect your data/bets. I have heard of so many stories over the years about this not being respected in the way it should. Exchanges are a slightly different beast.
I will talk about Betfair at this point. From a tech point of view there was the Scousebarry issue where he was beating time delays. That was a long time ago now and I think the exchange is very sound technically. It has seen billions of transactions on it. That’s not to say you couldn’t get a nefarious actor at some stage. From a data leak point of view I think all Trading rooms (SB) and Telbet type operations have the potential to be leaky. I know from a Market Operations perspective (exchange management) that we couldn’t see anything ten years ago and it was very heavily permissioned. I would feel very comfortable that someone wouldn’t be able to see what bets I place on the exchange if doing it online. That’s not to say it couldn’t happen but is something I am comfortable with.
I am comfortable my bets are being placed into a fair environment and that I know all about the risks associated with latency and bet delays. If betting in running others will get the information faster than you.
I have never worked at the other three main exchanges but it feels they would be like when Betfair first started, rather than the current iteration. I would be very nervous about them being able to see bets being placed, especially if they are seeding markets themselves.
That is a risk you have to be aware of.
In an area such as poker we have seen it is literally a free for all. You would be insane to play much online even on the biggest sites. It is absolutely littered with multi accounting, collusion, ghosting, RTAs, etc.
Even in other gambling forms such as Daily Fantasy Sports you would be right I think, to be wary about what could go on. If a huge scandal broke nothing would surprise me. I don’t know of anything and I know one of the bigger players who does it.
If someone had access to lineups etc then it would be a huge issue. I am not saying it has or will happen. Just that there is the potential there. You have to be aware of how things can be used against you in a way that will be to your detriment. Normally going to the biggest
platforms protects you and I think that’s a fair strategy, poker aside. They have the biggest incentives to make sure their product doesn’t have any issues. Just don’t be naïve and open your eyes and ears to everything.
ProPunting 