Betfair News Update

Betfair is one of the best known betting exchanges in the gaming business but lately they’ve been in the news a lot more than company officials would probably like.
Here’s a roundup of some of the latest Betfair headlines stories from the past few weeks.
Betfair Exits Germany
The German gaming market has been a challenge for foreign companies to negotiate and last week Betfair finally cried, “Uncle.” Company officials were fed up with heavy taxes on betting exchanges. They’ve long argued that exchanges should be exempt from the five percent turnover tax on sports betting.
Betfair continues to offer other gaming products to the German market, but doesn’t plan on returning to sports betting there anytime soon.
Betfair vs William Hill
The exchange model is also causing Betfair headaches on their home turf in the UK.
Earlier this year the company caught a major break when the British Horse Betting Levvy Board defined them as a business, rather than a bookmaker. That decision saved the company big bucks on the taxes paid by traditional horse racing bookmakers.
That decision hasn’t sat well with their competitors, particularly with UK gaming giant William Hill. They’re appealing the judgement and, generally, trying to cause as much havoc for Betfair as possible.
Betfair officials are very confident of their position and are, reportedly, happy to revisit the issue.
UK MD Steps Down
External upheaval has a way of making itself felt inside the halls of any business and Betfair is no exception. Last week the company’s UK marketing director, Peter Marcus, announced his departure from the company. Marcus had been with the company for just a little over a year.
While Betfair offered no official comment, industry analysts felt free to speculate. In one published report, a gaming industry expert at Morgan Stanley said, “…new management is making ongoing changes to the geographic profile of the business.”
Betfair’s current CEO, Breon Corcoran, has only been on the job since August of this year. Corcoran was brought on to help turn the troubled company after their 2010 IPO soared and then struggled. Company stock is now at about half the price it was at the time of the IPO.