Controversies
Illegal dividends
In its 2014 annual report, the betting firm admitted that its final dividend in 2011 and the interim and final dividends for 2012 and 2013 were paid erroneously because, by law, the "company did not have sufficient distributable reserves to make those distributions and so they should not have been paid by the company to its shareholders". Betfair also admitted that the purchase of 6.5 million shares in April 2012 was executed when the "company did not have sufficient distributable reserves".
Data theft
In September 2011, Betfair admitted that it had concealed the theft of confidential customer data from the company's 2010 share prospectus. The theft included the payment card details of most of its customers, "3.15m account usernames with encrypted security questions", "2.9m usernames with one or more addresses" and "89,744 account usernames with bank account details". The company further stated that it had informed the Serious Organised Crime Agency of the incident which happened on 14 March 2010 but was not discovered by Betfair data security until 20 May that year.
In play betting concerns
Betfair offer in play betting on a variety of horseracing events. There has been some controversy over alleged broadcast delays of up to five seconds.
Among the bettors on Betfair's exchange are companies that place high-speed automated bets using predictive models. Some of these companies use courtsiding data transmitted directly from agents located at the event, giving them an edge over recreational punters who do not receive the latest scores as quickly. The practice drew widespread scrutiny after one such agent, working for a company established by former Betfair employees, was arrested at the 2014 Australian Open; charges were later dropped.
Advertising
In September 2009, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned Betfair from running two billboard adverts which claimed that their Starting Price (SP) offered 40% better returns, on average than the industry SP. The ASA found that only 10% of the bets used by Betfair in their calculations yielded at least 40% better returns than the industry SP.
In February 2011, the ASA banned another Betfair advert, that stated "On Betfair, you cut out the middle man, which means you could win bigger". The regulator said that the description "cutting out the middleman" was ambiguous and misleading, because the site takes a commission fee on winnings, which could be perceived as a middleman role.
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Premium charge
In September 2008, Betfair introduced a "Premium Charge" for wagerers whose winnings are particularly high compared to the amount of commission they pay. Specifically, members whose commission charges amount to less than 20% of their gross profits, and have placed bets in at least 250 markets, are required to pay the additional charge to make up the difference.
Though Betfair stated that the charge would only affect less than 0.5% of its members, it attracted criticism on its member forum and from the broader exchange betting community. According to The Guardian, the charge significantly changed the relationship between Betfair and its customers, as Betfair can no longer claim to be a neutral betting exchange "where winners are welcome" (its mantra for many years).
In June 2011 Betfair raised its Premium Charge to 60% for some customers, a move which was met by outrage.
Sports integrity
Betfair has noted that they have signed numerous information sharing agreements with governing bodies around the world, with whom they cooperate on matters if the latter suspects corruption to have taken place. Betfair has agreements with some thirty sports bodies, such as the Lawn Tennis Association and the British Horseracing Association, and has been instrumental in several high-profile investigations into suspicious betting.
In June 2010, high-profile racehorse owner and professional gambler Harry Findlay was banned by the British Horseracing Authority for using Betfair to bet against his own horse, Gullible Gordon.
At the disciplinary hearing into Findlay's betting against Gullible Gordon, it was revealed that Findlay had been in financial difficulty and that Betfair had allowed him to use the account of a friend, racehorse owner Eammon Wilmott. In a further twist, the bets were actually made by Findlay "associate" Glenn Gill.
Betfair themselves condemned the punishing of Findlay, saying the punishment was not "proportionate or consistent with similar offences in the past." Findlay had previously called himself "a walking advert for Betfair."
Winning bets voided
In August 2007, Betfair took the unprecedented step of voiding all bets following a tennis match between Martin Arguello and Nikolay Davydenko because of suspicious betting patterns.
In December 2011, Betfair voided all in running bets on a race at Leopardstown after an automated customer reportedly laid the winning horse Voler La Vedette at odds of 28–1, even as the mare crossed the finish line. The controversy was described as "devastating" by Betfair CEO Stephen Morana, and it affected at least 200 customers who were refused more than £23M in winnings. Some of these customers are believed to be pursuing their case with the independent adjudication body IBAS, as Betfair no longer falls under the jurisdiction of the Gambling Commission since its move to Gibraltar in 2011.
In September 2011 Betfair refused to honour winning bets made by their customers on The Tote Jackpot bet at Newmarket Racecourse. Although funds were removed from customer accounts before the bets had won, the company claimed that due to "technical issues in transmitting bets into the Tote pools in the last 10 minutes before the pool closed", they would not pay any winnings. Reportedly some small gamblers were deprived of wins of up to £16,000 apiece.
Duty of Care
In 2021, Betfair user, Luke Ashton committed suicide after accruing debts of £18,000. In 2023 a coroner's inquest expressed concerns that Betfair missed opportunities to intervene after his gambling increased. According to the inquest, Betfair had identified Ashton to be “low-risk” despite indicators of problem gambling in his behaviour, with spikes in his activity, spending almost the whole day gambling on Betfair, which the company’s automated algorithms did not pick up on.
Copies of the inquest were sent to the Gambling Commission. In February 2025, the regulator decided not to take further action against Betfair. Ashton's window filed a claim for judicial review shortly after.
The case will be heard in front of the UK High Court in June 2026.
