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I use the betfair 'betting exchange' API +crude algos to place bets on the final results of soccer leagues. My main risk, I think, is betfair going bust with

I use the betfair 'betting exchange' API +crude algos to place bets on the final results of soccer leagues. My main risk, I think, is betfair going bust with all my capital locked into season-long bets (I make many small bets on unrelated markets). They charge 5% commission on net profits for a given event (would be reduced to 3% if I had very large volume). They are floated on the stock market, have a decent market cap and I think my funds are likely safe with them. That 5% is a lot, and really reduces my profit, BUT at least I am fairly sure my capital is safe. (Unlike e.g. intrade [0] who I really wanted to use (big arbs on US presidential election vs betfair) but did not trust (rightly so, as it turned out)). The other positive thing is the market depth - many punters use betfair. This is self-reinforcing - people don't use eg betdaq because people don't use betdaq, even though their commission is currently 3%. Another thing: I am happy having my capital tied up in bets because inflation and interest rates are low. That is not true of bitcoin. For bets on a given match, made and settled the same day, this might not be a big issue, but for longer-term bets ... I'm interested to see how xbet does, good luck to them. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrade

hucker 12y ago
Oh, I didn't know betfair had an API, that's interesting. Do you know if there exists an open source implementation for any languages, or do you roll your own?
- bainsfather 12y ago
  Maybe https://github.com/betfair/API-NG-sample-code https://github.com/betfair/API-NG-sample-code is a good place to start? Also: https://developer.betfair.com/ https://developer.betfair.com/ http://forum.bdp.betfair.com/ http://forum.bdp.betfair.com/ I was careful about using someone else's code for handling my money! So I used basic example code that I understood (I no longer remember where I got it, sorry), then extended it. From various forums etc, there seems to be a big pool of people doing this sort of thing. Also, from the betting market dynamics, you can see there are other algo traders - watching the in-play betting on soccer matches is quite amazing - the bettors work with such small margins and big volumes, 'predicting' the game in real-time. Most impressive.
  - hucker 12y ago
    Thank you very much. This looks like an interesting market to experiment with :)
blazespin 12y ago
Intrade paid everyone back in full.

hucker 12y ago

Oh, I didn't know betfair had an API, that's interesting. Do you know if there exists an open source implementation for any languages, or do you roll your own?

bainsfather 12y ago
Maybe https://github.com/betfair/API-NG-sample-code https://github.com/betfair/API-NG-sample-code is a good place to start? Also: https://developer.betfair.com/ https://developer.betfair.com/ http://forum.bdp.betfair.com/ http://forum.bdp.betfair.com/ I was careful about using someone else's code for handling my money! So I used basic example code that I understood (I no longer remember where I got it, sorry), then extended it. From various forums etc, there seems to be a big pool of people doing this sort of thing. Also, from the betting market dynamics, you can see there are other algo traders - watching the in-play betting on soccer matches is quite amazing - the bettors work with such small margins and big volumes, 'predicting' the game in real-time. Most impressive.
- hucker 12y ago
  Thank you very much. This looks like an interesting market to experiment with :)

blazespin 12y ago

Intrade paid everyone back in full.