Suspended in dis-belief

Despite my nervousness, as expressed in a previous post, I actually did pretty well last Saturday, in fact it wasn't the delays on Betfair that caught me out in the end however. It was the late suspension of the 15:05! I already had an open lay bet in the market and closed the position as expected before the off. In fact I had several positions that I closed together.

When the market failed to appear in play I took screen shots and data from the race, knowing what was likely to happen next. Betfair decided to resettle the market.

The big issue I have when Betfair do this, is that it seems to be completely arbitrary. I know they throw the terms at you and quote 'offical off time' but I am just not sure where the 'official' off time comes from or how it is calculated. I know for an absoluete fact that all my positions where equal at the time the race actually started as I closed all positions together. I saw the start, even if Betfair didn't!! However, when the market was re-settled some of those positions were settled as though some were open and some closed. Impossible when you consider that they all closed at exactly the same time. I have plenty of evidence to prove this simple fact.

You could be forgiven for thinking this rant is because I lost some money, but on this occasion I actually gained as a result of the error on Betfair, but it still annoys me something rotten. What I want are clearly defined rules, not arbitary ones, especially when incorrect in my eyes. I know when I placed the bets and when the market should have gone in play and I was out by that point. According to official off I wasn't. It could have been very nasty if it had gone the other way.

Fortunately on this occassion it didn't and I got a small bonus. But it worries me that there doesn't seem to be any way to ensure this is a fair settlement. That's concerning for everybody, what ever you do on the exchanges and however you do it.