Comment by WatchDog | Hacker News Reader

Comment by WatchDog | Hacker News Reader

I used to work for the Australian parimutuel(aka tote or pool)[0] betting operator.

All the proceeds for a race are placed in a pool, the operator deducts a percentage of pool as a takeout, and the rest is divided among the winners, or. is carried over into a jackpot.

We had special bulk betting integrations for quantitative bettors, and even offered rebates on the takeout revenue, it's not secret, although it's not widely publicised.[1]

There are stories of traders that have made lots of money betting in parimutuel markets[1]

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parimutuel_betting [1]: https://www.sportstradingnetwork.com/article/rebates-global-... [2]: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-05-03/the-gambl...

One of the standouts being the syndicate run by David Walsh (of MONA fame) and Zeljko Ranogajec. They made money because the rebates swung the odds in their favour [1].

My take is that: the syndicate wins because the odds were swung in their favour. The tote wins because even with the discounted percentage the increased pool size offset the rebate and made them more money. The rest of the mug punters lost since the syndicate was winning a portion of the pool they would have otherwise won. The rebates are a mechanism to reliably transfer additional money from mug punters to the tote via an enabling middleman (the syndicate).

[1] https://www.perthturftalk.com.au/discussion/discussion/11724...

I mostly agree with your take, the linked article itself seems a little missleading, claiming that you could make money by placing losing bets.

As far as if the regular punter is getting screwed, I'm not so sure. They certainly aren't getting as good of a deal as the professional punters are getting.

However, if the punter feels like they have some special insight into the race and the predictive performance of the horses, then they stand to win much more money by having the professionals put money into the pool.

Which one? What became UBet or the one that is still TAB?

Tabcorp

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