Betfair Australia pulls Japan racing

Betfair has pulled horse racing in Japan from its betting platform in Australia after pressure from the country’s racing body.

Australia.- Betfair has pulled horse racing in Japan from its betting platform in Australia after pressure from the country’s racing body.

Betfair added Japanese racing markets in March, but almost three months later has chosen to comply with the Japan Racing Association’s (JRA) request.

In a statement, Betfair said: “We launched Japanese racing on the exchange in March 2020 in order to continue meeting the needs and interests of our customers and punters during what was a time of unprecedented uncertainty for racing, and we know many punters love the product.

“Unfortunately, the HKJC and JRA still have a view that a betting exchange poses risk to the integrity of a race given “a customer can back a horse to lose”.

“Given the disruption, this would pose to Australian punters and Australian racing bodies alike, as fans of racing, we have ceased offering markets on the exchange.”

Betfair also announced earlier this week that it was raising its commission on NRL winnings in Australia.