Betfair and Yahoo! are to build a Yahoo!-branded version of Betfair's gambling exchanges for UK and Ireland. The joint venture is due to launch in March.

Exchanges work by facilitating bets between punters. Rather than offering odds and taking bets themselves Betfair charges commission on all winning bets. The site claims 70,000 active punters and over a million bets placed every day. It takes bets on everything from basketball to yachting.

Betfair is the largest UK betting exchange by far and was set up in 1999.

More on the BBC here [1]. ®

Related stories

UK betting exchanges face taxing future [2]
Punters warm to online poker [3]
Betfair and FA deal on dodgy bets [4]
Betfair.com scoops Queen's Award [5]

Links

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4205925.stm
2. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/17/betting_taxed/
3. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/12/online_poker/
4. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/03/29/betfair_and_fa_deal/
5. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/04/22/betfair_com_scoops_queens_award/