Betfair Australia capitulates, will no longer offer betting on Hong Kong races

Betfair Australia has stopped allowing its customers the ability to offer wagers on races held by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the company said on Friday.

The decision by Betfair Australia to take down markets on Hong Kong’s races came 16 days after the HKJC sent a “cease and desist” letter to the company. The HKJC said in the letter that it had never granted approval to the company to offer the bets and that it considered exchange wagering on its product “intrinsically at odds with the principles of the sport.”

While Betfair Australia said in a statement to its customers that it had ceased offering the markets “immediately,” it also said that it believed that it was not “in breach of any law or regulation.”

“We see ourselves very much aligned with statements consistently made by the HKJC that customer activity captured through legal, transparent channels (such as Betfair), rather than opaque exchanges … is fundamental for the integrity and success of racing,” the statement said.

The HKJC, a government agency that controls all aspects of racing in Hong Kong, said that it “welcomes the announcement” by Betfair Australia but it also warned that it remained opposed to exchange wagering of any kind on its races.

“The Club would like to reiterate that betting exchanges violate and are a serious threat to the integrity of racing,” the statement said.

The back-and-forth between the sides drew international attention due to issues surrounding international simulcasting. While the HKJC did not say in its cease-and-desist letter that it was considering legal action, the case could have landed in international courts, with the potential to set precedent on issues of intellectual-property rights surrounding betting products.

Betfair Australia – which is not affiliated any longer with the Betfair betting platform launched in the U.K. in 2000 (or that platform’s parent company, the international wagering conglomerate FanDuel Group) – began offering betting markets on Hong Kong’s races on Sept. 1. The company is licensed to operate in Australia through the Tasmanian government. It offers a wide range of products, including wagers on U.S. sports.

The HKJC allows only parimutuel wagering on its races. It has said that “betting exchange platforms pose unique and fundamental threats to the integrity of racing” because the platforms allow customers to bet on a horse to lose.