It’s been a tough week for in-play and ante-post betting at Betfair (whose ads appear here). Allowing people to bet after an event’s begun or before competitor starting places are known are key innovations of the internet age.

So the high profile in-play betting scandal involving reality TV shows like X Factor and I’m a Celebrity Get Me out Here is damaging. That it’s been swiftly followed by an ante-post betting scandal involving bets on dead horses is perhaps more damaging as its closer to the bookie’s core business.

I don’t really know anything about horseracing, but it strikes me that reality TV is dodgy genre in which to allow betting right up to the last minute. Unlike a sport that witnessed by many and often televised live, a significant group of people will know the outcome before it’s announced on TV. And anything’s leakable (i.e. it’s possible for the source of the leak to deny all) as soon as at least three people know.

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