Matthew Imi, Chief Executive of the race broadcaster, said there is no commercial upside for the firm to alter the pictures\’ time delay. Imi was responding to speculation on the Betfair forum where exchange punters hoped the time delay between SIS and At The Races could be reduced from the usual two-second gap.
“We\’re more concerned with better picture quality. ATR viewers get very high-quality pictures with no picture break-up or pixelation,” Imi told the Racing Post.
“In any case, even at its most pronounced the difference between betting shop pictures and ATR is two seconds, so this is a non-issue. We certainly don\’t have thousands of customers ringing up every day to complain about it.”
The Racing Post\’s Matt Williams said time delay problems are a major cause for concern for the majority of exchange punters.
“I\’m sure in-running markets could be helped by levelling the playing field,” he said. “Why would anybody want their pockets picked by punters privileged to a faster feed?”
“Some exchange bettors carry on punting regardless, whereas other, greener, in-running punters are oblivious to the speed differences.”
“It\’s ATR\’s prerogative to go for picture quality ahead of speed, but I\’d like to see some acknowledgement from them, in terms of a daily reminder, that their pictures are delayed by however many seconds;” he added.
Betfair\’s Director of Field Marketing, Josh Apiafi, said it would be better for everybody if the delay wasn\’t so great.
“In a perfect world, ATR pictures would be as fast as SIS.”
However, he added: “As long as punters know what the time delay equates to on the Flat and over jumps, we don\’t see it as a problem. And in-running players tend to be more experienced than non in-running punters.”
Few weeks ago, Betfair extended the in-play time delays on Spanish soccer games from 5 to 8 seconds after that the firm\’s research shown that some Spanish TV stations provide pictures delayed by up to five seconds.
Betfair always stated that transmissions described as live by some broadcasters may actually be delayed, but decided to take action to ensure that both backers and layers are protected when betting in-play on Spanish soccer markets.
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