One more bang on the drum

I know I bang on about this stuff a lot, but two things I've seen on the internet since Friday have served to illustrate very clearly once again what governments don't seem to be able to see. The first was a posting on a forum , which asked the question, "Is Betdaq better than Betfair in Australia?" Forget the answer. The point is that Betdaq aren't licensed in Australia and therefore don't have all the onerous restrictions on them that Betfair do, which prevents the latter from offering in-running betting over the internet. It is clear that consumers have no idea that it's regulatory restrictions that make products inferior, and wouldn't care anyway. They don't know which product is licensed and which isn't when they can just find them with the click of a mouse. The second, reported in today's EGR , further illustrates the point. Bwin.Party co-CEO Norbert Teufelberger is quoted as saying of Bet365, who are not licensed in France but apparently continue to operate there, "They cannot necessarily market in the same way we do, but they can market by PR. The problem is they are just one click away. The odds key difference [due to the high turnover tax levied on licensed operators] is so substantial in France, it very easy for a customer to see that he can get much better offers from non-licensed operators.That advantage goes away if that difference becomes marginal, because consumers don’t care if they get a 2-3% better price, but they do care whether they get a 50% better price. News on the net travels very fast these days, through blogs, forums, and so forth. That’s the way you can market those products in those markets.” How long before regulators start to realise this stuff? Forget going after Bet365, for whatever they are allegedly doing. I'd rather have a system that allows big brand operators to be able to offer product efficiently and in line with market realities, than I would have artificial and ineffective barriers put in place which cannot be enforced and just make life stressful for everyone, for one reason or another.