BETDAQ is the trading name of Global Betting Exchange, a betting exchange operator based in
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
. It is the second largest betting exchange operator in the market, with
BetfairBetfair is the world's largest Internet betting exchange. The company is based in Hammersmith in West London, England.Since Betfair was launched in June 2000 it has become the largest online betting company in the UK and the largest bet exchange in the world...
being the largest.
The company was founded in 2000 by leading Irish businessman
Dermot DesmondDermot Desmond is regarded as one of Ireland's most successful entrepreneurs. He is estimated to be worth more than €2 billion and is ranked 4th on the Irish Rich List and among 'The World's Richest People'.-Early life:Desmond was born into modest circumstances in Macroom in 1950...
and started trading in September 2001. Its headquarters are located in the
International Financial Services CentreThe International Financial Services Centre , or An Lárionad Seirbhísí Airgeadais Idirnáisiúnta in Irish, is a major financial services centre in North Wall, Dublin, Ireland...
in
DublinDublin is the largest city and capital of Ireland. It is officially known in Irish as Baile Átha Cliath or Áth Cliath ; the English name comes from the Irish Dubh Linn meaning "black pool". It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the...
, and it employs about 100 people.
The company offers betting markets on a range of international sporting and other events, and claims to handle in excess of £20M worth of bets every week.
BETDAQ is the trading name of Global Betting Exchange, a betting exchange operator based in
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
. It is the second largest betting exchange operator in the market, with
BetfairBetfair is the world's largest Internet betting exchange. The company is based in Hammersmith in West London, England.Since Betfair was launched in June 2000 it has become the largest online betting company in the UK and the largest bet exchange in the world...
being the largest.
The company was founded in 2000 by leading Irish businessman
Dermot DesmondDermot Desmond is regarded as one of Ireland's most successful entrepreneurs. He is estimated to be worth more than €2 billion and is ranked 4th on the Irish Rich List and among 'The World's Richest People'.-Early life:Desmond was born into modest circumstances in Macroom in 1950...
and started trading in September 2001. Its headquarters are located in the
International Financial Services CentreThe International Financial Services Centre , or An Lárionad Seirbhísí Airgeadais Idirnáisiúnta in Irish, is a major financial services centre in North Wall, Dublin, Ireland...
in
DublinDublin is the largest city and capital of Ireland. It is officially known in Irish as Baile Átha Cliath or Áth Cliath ; the English name comes from the Irish Dubh Linn meaning "black pool". It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the...
, and it employs about 100 people.
The company offers betting markets on a range of international sporting and other events, and claims to handle in excess of £20M worth of bets every week. It operates separate international and UK versions of its main site, and in early 2006 launched BETDAQ Express, with a simplified interface and functionality.
In 2003, BETDAQ did not sign up to an agreement with the
Jockey ClubThe Jockey Club is not a club for jockeys. Rather it has traditionally been one of the most exclusive high society social clubs in the United Kingdom, sharing some of the functions of a gentleman's club such as high-level socialising. Many of the members are racehorse owners...
that granted the Jockey Club access to the company's customer records. Managing director of BETDAQ Rob Hartnett questioned the wisdom of having the Jockey Club responsible for the investigation of misconduct, rather than the police or the judiciary, asserting that BETDAQ "will not be a haven for crooked activity", but also stating that "We just want the Jockey Club and the whole betting industry to think this through." and "We will just not give potentially innocent individual's private details. It is just wrong.".
Interviewed as he left BETDAQ in February 2005, Hartnett made several comments about the company's initial launch and development. The company's initial aim at the high-roller end of the market "had allowed the competition to get a market leap on us", and "Our technology wasn't as good as Betfair's in those vital early days of building volumes and building the brand. So when we moved into the UK and the horseracing markets, we began a step-by-step improvement. But we were still behind — that was what the market was telling us." In a rare interview the preceding month with
Racing PostThe Racing Post is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting newspaper, currently the only one appearing in print form. It was founded in April 1986 by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum as a rival to the Sporting Life...
journalist Jim Cremin, Desmond had accepted that BETDAQ "is not profitable yet" and had "cost him a fortune", but had stated that he "believes the medium-term prospects are encouraging".
In September 2005, BETDAQ reached the point that, in the words of
Racing Post journalist Howard Wright, it could "no longer sustain a low commission rate for customers" leaving its "one discernible commercial advantage over the dominant market leader Betfair [...] gone". The company which, according to fellow journalist Bruce Jackson, had, when it had been first launched, prided itself on a 3% rate and offering zero commission, had "failed to match Betfair in the publicity stakes, along with liquidity on most markets" and moved to imposing a higher 5% tax rate on winners.
In November 2005, William Hill transferred its hedging activities from the racecourse to betting exchanges, primarily BETDAQ, prompting commentators to speculate that the "Big Three" bookmakers could take control of BETDAQ in order to undermine Betfair's market. Hartnett had been quoted in a 2005 interview speculating that a company such as BETDAQ could provide an ideal entry point to the betting exchange business for bookmakers such as William Hill and
LadbrokesLadbrokes plc is a British based gambling company. It is based in Rayners Lane in Harrow, London. From 14 May 1999 to 23 February 2006, when it owned the Hilton hotel brand outside the United States, it was known as Hilton Group plc...
.
In May 2006, the launch of Better, a bookmaking company that offered cash betting terminals (allowing punters to back or lay selections without having to register personal or bank details) linked to BETDAQ, caused controversy, with commentators and commercial rivals observing that this move by BETDAQ into untraceable cash opened the door for criminal corruption in racing. The managing director of Better, Ian Hogg, stated that the company had consulted both the Jockey Club and Levy Board, and explained that "the core difference [between] this and exchange betting from home is that our machines operate with a built-in margin that includes commission for both ourselves and Betdaq — crucially, that overall margin is similar to that involved in the SP. Therefore, we are in the same realm as a punter backing all the other horses if he wanted to oppose a short-priced favourite."
It also runs a website called Trader Games, where you can bet money against other players on how well you can trade certain markets. In November 2006 the company started a blog called BETDAQ Exchange Views, with contributions from the company's PR Director Russ Wiseman.
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