Smarkets begins closing successful accounts

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james19
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:30 pm

That's an interesting observation.

To be honest I had never previously encountered a lag in markets going in play, and I can assure you that my trading style had nothing to do with that. All my bets were pre-match and pre-kick off, but still management found reason to complain :roll:

Price is price, but at Smarkets it seems that some prices are not meant to be taken...
james19
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:30 pm

These guys are jokers. I wrote to their support and to their CEO two weeks ago asking if there were any new developments regarding reworking their business model to somehow facilitate winning traders into their nascent ecosystem.

They totally ignored my emails as if to put two fingers in their ears and sing "la la la" - crisis? what crisis?

Obviously everyone starts out in the start up business hoping to be a breath of fresh air and to "do things differently".

It's sad when even start ups start behaving as poorly as the monopolists.
maycontainnuts
Posts: 88
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:58 pm

I think you are making this worse for yourself james. You are the only person to have come forward so it was obviously something unusual that you were doing. Betdaq and Betfair seed markets, so that's not unusual. You obviously found a clever exploit, but were caught out.

You probably threatened smarkets with negative publicity if they kicked you off and are delivering on that, but its no longer putting people off. I imagine its just driving interest in smarkets IMHO. I joined after reading your posts and haven't had a problem with them. So it must have been something very specific that you were doing and that activity could not have been described as 'normal'.
Iron
Posts: 6793
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2009 10:51 pm

Reading between the lines, I suspect that Smarkets aren't long for this world, particularly now that Betdaq have been bought out by Ladbrookes.

Why would anyone use Smarkets rather than Betdaq or Betfair? If you're a causal punter, you're not going to want to go to all of the hassle of switching. And if you're a pro, you're not going to go with a company that will close your account as soon as you begin upsetting the market makers...

Jeff
james19
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:30 pm

They just replied to me.

"We do not have a policy of banning winning users. We will not enter into further discussion regarding your account suspension."

What complete twaddle. I was up £20k so they threw me out. If I was down £20k they would probably send me christmas cards.

They might not have a firmly worded policy on banning winners but that's certainly the way they behave in practice. They just don't want to admit it.

I will take this as far as necessary until they start to behave like a proper exchange, or admit that they are not.
Last edited by james19 on Sun Feb 24, 2013 10:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
james19
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:30 pm

Comment deleted by user
Last edited by james19 on Sun Feb 24, 2013 10:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Iron
Posts: 6793
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2009 10:51 pm

This tweet from Smarkets doesn't really inspire confidence:

'Ongoing site outage will require major work to resolve. We currently have no ETA and do not expect one in the short term.'

Jeff
PeterLe
Posts: 3715
Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:19 pm

Ferru123 wrote:This tweet from Smarkets doesn't really inspire confidence:

'Ongoing site outage will require major work to resolve. We currently have no ETA and do not expect one in the short term.'

Jeff
I bet James19 has crashed it! :D
james19
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:30 pm

I feel deeply aggrieved that this company is essentially ignoring all of my correspondence now.

I never imagined for the life of me that a corporate could be so unfair to one customer.

At least Betfair and Betdaq are happy to take my £120,000 a year in commission, but the fact remains that I have been denied freedom of choice as a consumer, and in many cases have to pay 2.5% comm at Betfair on the same bet I could have placed at Smarkets @ 2%.

I will continue to write a letter a week, and challenge this completely unfair decision.
Last edited by james19 on Sun Feb 24, 2013 10:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
spreadbetting
Posts: 3140
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:06 pm

Somehow I doubt you sending a letter a week will make them change their mind :) What did the LGA say, if they haven't investigated yet I'd wait for their reply before looking at your next possible moves.

The more and more you keep recycling the same thing just makes you come across as some sort of crank for now. And your desperate need to use smarkets over Betdaq or Betfair kinda leads me to believe you found a flaw within their system to exploit that doesn't exist elsewhere. Not that I'd have a problem with that.

All I'm basically saying is if you're using this thread in the hope of embarrassing them to change their mind it's really not working.
james19
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:30 pm

I am still plying my trade on Betfair and Betdaq. It's no skin off my nose, i'm just appalled at the way I have been treated by Smarkets.

LGA chief investigator is still compiling evidence, and I am awaiting their final verdict on the case.

I may come across as a crank but I would react the same way if Betfair/Betdaq were ever so stupid as to impose life time bans on winning traders. Many people make a living from exchanging trading, and this type of practice is fundamentally wrong.
User avatar
mugsgame
Posts: 1235
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:41 pm

I think you should read this http://blog.smarkets.com/2013/02/21/deu ... ing-round/

You should go and read my reaction to smarkets when they first appeared a couple of years back. Think I called it about right back then.
User avatar
Euler
Posts: 24701
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 1:39 pm
Location: Bet Angel HQ

james19 wrote:I would react the same way if Betfair/Betdaq were ever so stupid as to impose life time bans on winning traders. Many people make a living from exchanging trading, and this type of practice is fundamentally wrong.
But you haven't though James have you, despite all the things that Betfair have done to stop winning traders? So this does imply that you are exploiting a loophole; which smarkets have closed. All commercial businesses have the right to say yes or no to business. Nobody is obliged to deal with anybody if they don't want to. You can't sue somebody or run to a regulator for saying they don't want your business. Especially in the gambling industry.
james19
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:30 pm

They will never make enough to sustain themselves charging 20p comm on the £10 rec punters. They need people like me who generate upwards of £120,000 in commission p/a if they want to grown and capture serious market share from their rivals.
Last edited by james19 on Sun Feb 24, 2013 10:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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