Betfair Betting Exchange has decided to withdraw from markets of New Jersey and United States. The move has been taken by the company in light of poor performance in these states.
Betfair has been trying to set its foot in markets of America since 2016 and has not been able to make huge profits.
Betting exchanges offer peer-to-peer wagering, allowing bettors to agree to their own odds without the need for a bookmaker. The operator Betfair in this case acts as an arbiter. It takes commission on winnings which was 12 percent in New Jersey. The commission rate however, is much lower in other markets.
The concept of exchange wagering is highly popular and accepted in UK while the company’s efforts to introduce this and make it popular in US have failed.
The exchange offered promises of better odds for customers but still it recorded a modest handle of around $12.4 million in bets in 2018.
Betfair had entered US markets through acquisition of TVG horse racing and wagering channel and it made efforts to lobby lawmakers legally and get the exchange legislation passed.
Even after getting the legislation passed and acquiring license in New Jersey, it could not garner support from public at large due to small size of the state.
Betting exchanges require customer liquidity to function and that remained absent for Betfair markets’ to function and hence it has decided to quit the markets of United States.