A few months ago, I was asked to test drive a new website that promised an exciting revolution in the world of betting. It wouldn’t be proper of me to be more specific, but the basic concept is that traders bet against themselves on the vagaries of horse racing’s SP market, making money when correctly forecasting which starting prices would rise and fall. Now this is undoubtedly a new twist, taking the guesswork out of which horse will actually win the race in question. It’s been described as a step forward from the betting exchanges, but I didn’t agree and that’s where my moral dilemma lies.
Several years ago, German car giants Mercedes launched a new model called an A-Class. It was described as a ground-breaking vehicle, a compact people carrier for those who wanted cost-effective versatility and a chance to flaunt the Mercedes badge. Motoring journalists fell over themselves to sing its praises and advance sales went through the roof. Everything in the garden seemed extra rosy, until one doubting Thomas decided to see what would happen if a small child or a hedgehog wandered into the car’s path and he had to take evasive action – the results were catastrophic. The A-Class was found to have the stability of a pendulum and would simply head in the direction of the nearest bus queue before adopting the prone position as soon as the steering wheel was tweaked at speed. ‘Rubbish’ said the journalist’s colleagues. ‘Rubbish’ said Mercedes, but being thorough they took it back to their factory anyway and ordered a job lot of hedgehogs. Of course, they duly confirmed that the A-Class’ passengers would more likely than not be getting a close-up view of the tarmac should anything wander into the car’s path so recalled the entire range and set about correcting the problem, which they did. But that leads me to my dilemma. Should I have said what I really think about this new venture when several newspapers and journals have already lauded its merits – or should I have gone with the flow?
Well, I have always thought that honesty trumps compliance and leaves you less vulnerable to accountability. So I’ll stand by my initial assessment. The exchange may have diluted betting to a large extent and made the need to find winners less pressing. But surely the whole point of any sport is that there are winners and losers. Once you take that aspect out of any equation and begin trading on others lack of knowledge rather than a particular outcome, you might as well sit in an office in Canary Wharf and dream of a new Mercedes. So I said what I thought that you’d have to spend the whole day on the site to make money, the imposed limits confused the whole concept and that the experience left me completely cold – and have heard nothing since. My opinion won’t make the bus queue any safer, or save the hedgehog population, but at least my moral compass hasn’t gone completely south.
