Paddy Power and Betfair to trade own prices to off-time

Paddy Power and Betfair's sportsbook are to break from the rest of the betting industry from Monday and continue trading their own prices for all races in Britain and Ireland until the advertised off-time.

They also said they would continue to use the official starting price to settle bets placed with the 'best odds guaranteed' offer.

However, should other firms follow suit, it might call the future of the SP system into question.

Paddy Power Betfair, whose parent company has rebranded as Flutter Entertainment, currently price markets on all British and Irish races the evening before an event and trade their own prices until the 'show' generated from on-course bookmakers is distributed both online and to betting shops around ten minutes before the off.

The bookmaker claims their trials have shown that punters will get a price equal to or better than traditional board prices 75 per cent of the time.

The operator's director of racing Paddy Desmond said: "We will afford customers more choice by continuing to offer the official SP as a betting option whilst also continuing to use the official SP as the settlement mechanism of bets in receipt of our 'best odds guaranteed' concession."

He added: "Taking ownership of our prices for the duration of an event will allow us to give our customers a betting experience where odds offered are more reflective of the overall betting market.

"It will also allow us to manage the price journey, from first price offered to the start of a race, more effectively and significantly reducing periods of uncompetitive pricing, for example when a selection is showing 16-1 but our traders feel 25-1 is a truer reflection of its chance."

Desmond also said horseracing customers would be offered unfamiliar prices such as 16-5 and 35-1.

The move is not the first time a bookmaker has traded their own show prices up to the off, with the now defunct Blue Square doing so in 2006.

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