Find kickoff time from Betfair data

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PolicemanPrawn
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2014 2:01 am
Location: Extremistan

I would like to use the Betfair data to find the start time of an event, especially as it applies to greyhounds. I can search the marketDefinition field for updates, and find 'SUSPENDED', 'CLOSED' etc. I guess they will suspend as soon as the event starts, but there could also be suspensions for other reasons. Therefore, would the actual start time be the SUSPEND immediately before the first CLOSED? I have seen files where there are two CLOSEDs, so would I take the first one?
LinusP
Posts: 1871
Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:45 pm

PolicemanPrawn wrote:
Fri Nov 30, 2018 2:10 pm
I would like to use the Betfair data to find the start time of an event, especially as it applies to greyhounds. I can search the marketDefinition field for updates, and find 'SUSPENDED', 'CLOSED' etc. I guess they will suspend as soon as the event starts, but there could also be suspensions for other reasons. Therefore, would the actual start time be the SUSPEND immediately before the first CLOSED? I have seen files where there are two CLOSEDs, so would I take the first one?
Look for the first time it gets turned inplay.
PolicemanPrawn
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2014 2:01 am
Location: Extremistan

LinusP wrote:
Fri Nov 30, 2018 2:47 pm
PolicemanPrawn wrote:
Fri Nov 30, 2018 2:10 pm
I would like to use the Betfair data to find the start time of an event, especially as it applies to greyhounds. I can search the marketDefinition field for updates, and find 'SUSPENDED', 'CLOSED' etc. I guess they will suspend as soon as the event starts, but there could also be suspensions for other reasons. Therefore, would the actual start time be the SUSPEND immediately before the first CLOSED? I have seen files where there are two CLOSEDs, so would I take the first one?
Look for the first time it gets turned inplay.
Thanks, I see how that could work. Some sports, though, including greyhounds, don't go in-play on Betfair.
spreadbetting
Posts: 3140
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:06 pm

I guess it depends on how accurate you need this data to be, you can always scrape results sites for accurate off times, I got months of starting times from for someone just pointing a scraper at the paddy power site a few years ago. They'll always be problems relying on the Betfair data for accurate times as you're at the mercy of the suspend guy and they're not exactly reliable. If it's just greyhounds picking the last suspend before closed should be fine for a rough idea. The only reason you'd have two CLOSED's is if the market had to be reopened and resettled for some odd reason like incorrectly settled the first time so wouldn't affect the start time.
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