Have your say on the future of BETDAQ

[Betdaq]

Hello Forum,

We are writing to you to invite you to engage with us as we begin to plan the transformation of the BETDAQ exchange after the completion of our acquisition by Ladbrokes.
Ladbrokes and BETDAQ recognise the importance of the API, trading tool and trading strategy user community in developing a sustainable betting exchange ecosystem that generates liquidity and fast moving markets for all users.
At present we are working hard behind the scenes to add additional events and markets to the exchange. We are also working hard to generate liquidity in all markets and events where possible. At this point we are particularly interested in speaking with liquidity generators, professional and high volume exchange players who feel that they can contribute positively to growing exchange liquidity on a profitable basis.
If you would like to speak with us please direct your first response to apiinfo@betdaq.com and we send you a few questions to assess what category of user you fall into. We will then look to speak and meet with players and engage in conversations that will lead to mutually beneficial exchange growth.
We will have a presence at the ICE conference in London next week. If you would like to come and speak with us at ICE on Thursday February 7th please drop an email to the address above and we will arrange for one of our team to meet with you.
Finally, we are keen to spread the word to API users of other betting exchanges and we would be happy for you to pass this message to anyone who might fall into that category.

Kind regards,
The BETDAQ Team
Betdaq

[GeorgeUK]

I'm no longer gambling, but it seems that while looking at additional events, markets and ways to generate liquidity, you can also surpass competitors API's by asking users what features or data they would like to see that is not currently supplied.

You are in quite a unique position right now as you will probably be looking to overhaul or at least tune up the existing API. If customers are looking for something specific that your API does not provide, you could be missing out on alot of new business or liquidity.

I'm not sure if you could create a poll somewhere for customers to vote on what they would find useful and make comments to request other features or data. It seems to me that if you are going to be making changes to the API, you should be looking to get the most bang for your buck.

I have noticed a few posts in the pasts mention that data available on the Betfair API was not available on BETDAQ - not sure how much of that is used by liquidity generators, but it would be prudent to at least tell them what is currently available on the API and ask them if anything should be added. Opening that option to all your customers rather than just those generating liquidity may enable the generators to get more bets matched.

Whatever is decided, good luck with the 'new' exchange and i hope you learn from the mistakes of Betfair.

[gavind]

The offer looks good at first glance. Has anyone gave it a spin already?

[U.F.O]

Ladbrokes the bookies do not allow long term winners
and with Betfair killing winners off with their P.C charges.
People need the reassurance that they will be allowed to win
without excessive charges on the Ladbrokes exchange.

thats the number one priority as far as i'm concerned,
otherwise there is no point in disscussing anything else you will just be Betfair Mk2.

[doris_day]

Lads are a public company like Betfair. In the end their only loyalty is with their fracking share holders and that means maximising profit. At all costs. There are other business models where no single section of the company work to take advantage of another - take John Lewis as an example. Perhaps some public companies need to take a good look at their outdated business models and start thinking of more viable and equitable ones. Share holders i.e pension funds will gradually destroy all public companies.

[GeorgeUK]

One of the main reasons i didn't use BETDAQ (back in the day) was because of their minimum staking amount (was 50p - not sure if that's changed).

It's all good and well being able to bet with plenty of liquidity on the markets, but without being able to green up, it just didn't hold any appeal for me. I think this was because they didn't want lots of small bets clogging up the system, but if you have had over £2 accepted by the market (rather than just money staked at say 1.01) - could this not be seen as a greenlight that BETDAQ will get their commission, so allow users to go green?

Also, how about this .com and .co.uk thing - i used to have trouble logging into my account if i went to the wrong website. Has this been tidied up since?

I agree that commission, premium charges and winning accounts being allowed to stay are also big flags that they should be very aware of. The popularity of betting exchanges in part came about because you didn't need to worry about your account being limited.

I never spent much time on the BETDAQ forum, but i think the social/entertainment value should not be ignored. A basic forum like betfair's would suffice, but what about blogs/competitions/chat screens? Retention of customers is just as important as getting that first deposit - how will they keep the punters interested?

I guess the real question is how serious Ladbrokes are about being more than just the underdog to Betfair. If they are serious about getting the an Exchange that gives serious competition, then there are quite a few changes that need to be made and there are plent of betting forums and 'application' forums that can tell them what they don't like about the exchanges right now. If Ladbrokes are just looking for a way to give a slight boost to their income and access the data stream - without needing to pay when they hedge, then there will be no change in the numbers using BETDAQ at all.

[chipedge]

betdaq should go around all the exchange shops and offer rake back if they use betdaq exchange... like betfair used to do !

[anarchy]

noticed IR liquidity on horses is picking up a bit over at Betdaq....suggest all PC players sacrifice 1 month and try to get the ball rolling over there.

[houchy]

Would like to see betting assistant beta update adding more options,such as hide selections with price over etc etc.
To get more people using betdaq we need a better betdaq assistant.
I'm sure customers would be happy to pay for the service if it was improved from the current free betdaq assistant.Would seem a good £ buisness move for Gary to introduce.Then mabe the snowball can turn in to an avalanche,and break up the greedy monopoly.and finally make betfair listen to there customers.Makes me angry when i think how much PC i.ve had stolen from my account since it was introduced,then tweaked again.Sharp mind,winners welcome,fulltimers,don't make me laugh,that option no longer exists.

[MiniBlueDragon]

BetDaq as pretty much a waste of time for trading anything but the favourite. Pre-race there are huge gaps between back and lay odds, the odds are always lower than BF, in running there's pretty much no chance to trade out of a position due to lack of money and the gap between odds (I had a runner today backed at 38 which dropped to 5 in running. I didn't think it could win but the best available lay odds to trade out were 25 - ridiculous!)

I predominantly back runners rather than trade but I like the idea of being able to trade out if needed. Unfortunately though as soon as I find myself not being able to get enough money on the odds I need for what I class as 'value' I'll be going with a bookie instead. BF aren't taking my money in PC's and BD's stagnant markets on higher odds horses won't be adequate no matter how many Gruss users hop over to it.

In my opinion developing the BD Betting Assistant further is a bad investment.

[milfor]

The other thing that makes Betdaq unusable for trading is:

It's often impossible to green up properly because stakes below 0.50 are not
available. That's costly especially with high odds.

[anarchy]

seems Betquack don't manage US racing markets in the evening....Betkunt just suspended markets scheduled to start in the next hour because they've broken down again.... Betquack also suspended the same markets....looks like they have a bot mimicking whatever Betkunt does. pathetic