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Set Price Popularity
Fairer
for All Bet Types
Indications that set prices are likely to be
very popular include:
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A
repeated complaint amongst many TAB punters in Australia is that prices often
decrease after they have made their bet. This complaint is well known and it has
been confirmed again and again in discussions with TAB punters. |
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There has
been a generally enthusiastic reaction from punters to news of the SPT and
typically they
have been very willing to sign our petition. Indeed, so popular are set prices that thousands of signatures
were collected in a short period of time despite obstacles created by vested interests. |
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In a
number of jurisdictions, the pools increase dramatically (in some cases,
doubling) in the last minute or so of betting as punters attempt to gauge the price
that they will obtain. |
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In the
UK, fixed odds are offered off-course as well as on-course by bookmakers in competition with the variable price
totalizator and in
this situation the vast majority of the turnover goes to the bookmakers. |
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One TAB
survey indicated that about 70 - 80% of punters would prefer to bet at fixed
odds. |
Providing better prices for early variable price bets will
encourage more early variable price betting. That will result in a bigger
variable price pool at an early stage for set price punters to bet against. But
it may be desirable to provide these better prices for other reasons as well.
The
Existing System
Even with the current system, variable price
punters, and particularly early variable price punters, do not have the same
advantages as some other punters. For example:
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they
do not know what price they are going to receive; |
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they
often do not have access to the more accurate on-course market, particularly
at a later stage; and |
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they
may not have access to other general information which
is often available at a later stage. |
Even punters who bet on the totalisator later
in betting are at an advantage compared to those who bet earlier. Therefore,
to give a price advantage to those who bet earlier would help to equalise these factors.
This is believed to be
only fair, even for the
existing tote system, because early variable price punters currently provide the
pool and a market for the later variable price punters to bet against. So it
would be at least as fair to offer it if the SPT was operating. [top]
The
SPT is Fairer and Better
It is believed that the SPT is a much fairer
system than is often currently employed and that it will prove to be
considerably more popular with punters. In particular:
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Variable price punters can obtain a
better price on average than
they do now. This better price helps to compensate them for not knowing with
certainty what the final price will be. Also, it is believed that major price fluctuations of significance will
tend to occur much earlier in betting
than they do now. So variable price punters off-course will see more relevant market moves than
at present and they will be more
informed. |
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Variable price punters who bet early can be given
an even better
price than for other variable price punters. This helps to compensate them for
providing a market before later information is available, such as information
about market prices and changes to those prices. It also provides a bigger
variable price pool at an early stage in betting for set price punters to bet
against. |
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Set price punters have the advantage of knowing with certainty
what price they will receive even though the prices displayed are slightly lower
than the corresponding variable prices.
In addition, by
being able to decide when to place their bets, they have an opportunity to
obtain a better price than the variable price punter receives, and
perhaps even to obtain the best possible price during betting. They can
achieve that by watching the market and by using an extra element of skill
to find some of the many trends in prices. For example; if a price is becoming longer (“drifting out”),
especially if it is one of the lesser chances in the market, then in many
situations it is likely to continue to drift. On the other hand, if a price has
started to become shorter (“come in”), especially if it is one of the more
favoured chances in the market, then in many situations it is likely to continue
to come in or at least stay at the same price. |
Therefore,
as the SPT not only provides set prices but can also provide better prices for
variable price punters, particularly early variable price punters, it is
believed that it can be regarded as not only a better system but
also a fairer system. [top] |
