Australia: Betfair opens betting on house prices

Punters are allowed to wager on property prices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin, Canberra and Hobart.

Australia.- Online gambling giant Betfair has opened up betting on house prices in major Australian cities to help fill the void left by the global sports blackout due to Coronavirus.

The UK based company, which also operates in Ireland and Australia, started offering markets on the fall in property markets in Australia off the back of the Covid-19 crisis.

Punters are allowed to wager on property prices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin, Canberra and Hobart.

The results will be confirmed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics quarterly data.

Betfair claimed ‘customer demands’ had prompted it to offer betting on property markets in the eight Australian cities.

Due to the global Coronavirus spread, most sports are currently out of action in Australia apart from horse racing — although it has now been banned in Tasmania.

Lockdown measures have also meant that casinos have been forced to close.