Thetownend.com

Betfair are the world's leading betting exchange operator and very ambitious and acquisitive.

In the last two years they have opened in Australia, bought various companies, Aglet, Poker Champs, Portway Press, opened an online casino,have tie ups with Tattersalls and world series of poker,etc. They have profits of £40m and no debts, (yet)! They are going from strength to strength and if they buy us would probably be ambitious for us.

The word is they would leave PS alone.

This looks like a much better option for STFC than Best who had their own agenda. Betfair probably just want a successful club in the higher divisions.

I seriously hope that this scenario is not prejudiced by the small men who have an inflated idea of what they can achieve for themselves without any effort. Keep up the protests.

But apart from the small rumour that was going round last week that they were interested, you don't actually have any further evidence that its them?

No evidence, just a lot of hearsay. ( It is headed, "if it is them")

I would guess its from that Bape on thisisstfc.

To be fair he has been spot on so far.

We shall see. Im sure those profits would be slashed if Mike D ever got his teeth into them.

i'll offer you 3-1 that betfair are the other interested party.

i'm pretty sure its betfair.i was told over the weekend that there was enough money available to stop us going into administration again but that was it, and betfair wasn't mentioned.....

how true or not that is i dont know, but i think it cant be to far out.

I don't get why a bookmakers would want to buy a football club  :?

Back in 1989/90 it would have made sense, with Brian Hillier, Lou Macari and others at the club, but I just can't see our present board/management/ players being that interested in the bookies.

I don't get how a bookies can own a club??? That's a massive conflict of interest surely?

Would they even be allowed to? If they owned us, how could they then take bets on STFC results? Or even League 1 / FA Cup result etc..?

Sounds like a load of old bollocks to me.

If indead this is true I would imagine they will be looking at a nice big casino as part of the ground redevelopment

just a guess that a bookmakers would look to other gambling areas for additonal income once they have estabilshed themselves as a company.

That can't happen at Swindon.

The casino licences have already been handed out by the Government for the foreseeable future.

But they don't take the bets do they.  They provide the platform where users take and make bets against each other.  Is that not the way it works?

Might be bit of a waste of money for them then :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

If is is Betfair I haven't a problem, as long as they are open & honest with us AND they get rid of the current bloodsuckers

Bloody leeches morelike

You could be right mate.. but this is on their offical site, so I'm not sure the FA/FL would allow it:  "Betfair Limited is located in the United Kingdom and operates within the confines of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963. It holds a bookmaker's permit in England and Wales."

Who knows..

Indeed it is. They are a betting exchange. They facilitate the bet between two punters.

They do have casino interests and the like, but I doubt anyone will accept "STFC on red" as a bet.

The guy who set them up also owns some race horses.  Massive success story but stalled a bit when the US prevented their use I think.  Essentially it was a business based on some software they had designed to allow a money exchange in betting.  I think the owning company is called The Sporting Exchange Ltd or something like that.

Their personal wealth isn't massive in millionaire terms, although pretty big for us but certainly not in a position to plough millions in.  Maybe enough to buy the club and consolidate it's debts etc.

My friend Google came up with this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Black_%28gambling_entrepreneur%29

I'm a busybody and I'm proud of it  8)

Betfair aren't Bookies its a Betting Exchange they dont offer odds their customers do,so it wouldnt be a conflict of interests.

i don't see why they'd be interested in buying a league one football club that's worth fuck all but has a pricetag of a few milion!

The question remains why would they want a football club though if they are a betting exchange and only deal in bet's.....although surely STFC is a gamble in itself  :soapy tit wank:

The same could be said of any potential non Town fan investor couldnt it?

Ive no idea why anyone get involved to be honest.

The parent (sporting exchange Ltd) is a very strong company - £25m profit for year ending 30/4/07 with shareholders funds of £174m at that point in time. They seem to be owned by a mixture of individuals and what could be private equity firms

Not that that answers why they would be interested in buying STFC. Still, a new bandwagon is a new bankwagon

All hail our new bookie overlords!  Whats that? Mike has pissed them off after asking for £200m for 3 shares? oh.

And people wonder why I regard Bart as an annoying turd.......

Who would you be happy with Bart?

If Betfair are really interested in them (Or anyone else) I would rip there fucking arm off!

one thing though surely they will want to sponser us eventually as part of the deal. when does the deal with kingswood end?

Not the most persuasive of evidence but at least it seems there is a wiltshire connection http://www.hackinthebox.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=11558. Maybe they're fans?

"Bookmakers around the globe are up in arms as gambling's fastest-growing phenomenon -- the Internet -- threatens to rewrite the rules of one of the world's favorite pastimes. Having a similar effect to what Napster had on the music world, these savvy Web sites -- which function like stock exchanges for punters -- are challenging the multi-billion-dollar bookmaker business by making an entrepreneurial move on the established market online. The nightmare for bookmakers like William Hill and Australia's Tab Ltd started at a party in Wiltshire, England, on the day of the 1998 Wimbledon men's tennis final. Edward Wray, a JP Morgan debt trader, and his brother's best friend, Andrew Black, a software contractor with the British government, were chatting about using the Internet to allow punters all over the world to set their own odds and gamble against each other without the need for a bookmaker. "

Put that bet on Betfair and see if you have any takers, then you will find out if it is Betfair!!

Andrew Black was a Wimbledon fan and has a soft spot for AFC Wimbledon.

So he is a football man then. Interesting.

The ultimate irony, AFC Wimbledon steal our league place!

I'm joking of course

he has a blog under the name Bert, maybe we can ask him if he's buying us.