Betfair unveil SP plans

Having launched its own starting price product for racing at Southwell, England, on Wednesday, betting exchange Betfair expect to be offering the service on all UK action by Friday.

The worst percentage book returned in any of Southwell’s races was just 102%, with four of the seven races returning books of less than 100%.

A £10 bet on the seven winners at the traditional SP would have returned £471.20, but at the Betfair SP, with the maximum commission rate factored in, backers would have netted £596.22.

The firm’s director of horseracing Stephen Burn said: “It’s early days but already the prices look very competitive compared to the traditional bookies.

“We’re rolling out the SP option on a few more meetings tomorrow and expect to be covering all UK racing from Friday onwards.

“Within weeks we’ll be offering a Betfair SP on Irish racing, then UK place markets and shortly after that we’ll return an SP for other sports.”