Betfair are to compensate some customers left out of pocket by the remarkable betting patterns that took place during the woodiesdiy.com Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown last month.
The betting exchange initially voided all in-running bets on the race after one customer apparently laid easy winner Voler La Vedette for £21,474,836 at 29 (28-1).
This would have left the customer with a maximum liability of close to £600million and it later transpired that a technical fault with a 'bot' (automated betting system) was to blame.
A Betfair statement released this afternoon read: "We've looked in detail at all the circumstances surrounding the technology failure and the anomaly it created.
"In addition, we provided our Gibraltar regulator, the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner (GGC), with a detailed technical and operational report on the incident and the GGC made a number of recommendations.
"We have also consulted with customers and taken their feedback on board.
"Accordingly, we have reviewed our decision to void all in-running bets matched on the race and, in the interests of fairness, certain categories of voided bets will be compensated by way of ex gratia payments from Betfair.
"Relevant accounts will be credited by us today. This compensation complies with, and goes beyond, the GGC's recommendations.
"The categories of bets that will be compensated are: 1.In-play winning positions in both the 'win' and the 'to be placed' markets which were achieved before the technology failure; and 2.In-play winning positions in the 'to be placed' market achieved at any time through to the completion of the race.
"Bets matched in the 'win' market after the technology failure will remain void.
"We would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers and the GGC for their feedback in helping us to achieve what we believe to be a fair conclusion to this unprecedented incident.
"We remain committed to providing our customers with the best betting proposition possible."
