Four suspicious betting markets on four Manchester United games:
The insider trading on all these matches was visible pre-match to analysts monitoring Betfair prices.
Either Betfair's analysts are not fit for purpose...
... or integrity is not a feature of the corporate culture at the exchange.
Newcastle 0 Man Utd 0 (Apr 19 2011)
A £570,000 trade against Manchester United occurred at Betfair 25 minutes prior to kick off.
Such trades occur a couple of times per season.
Even though this bet was landed and represented 20% of total volume matched on table-topping Man Utd at time of trade, Betfair chose to see nothing untoward in the market.
A further £460K was traded against the Reds in the one-way volume late market.
Betfair still went for a legitimate market.
Man Utd 1 Real Madrid 2 (Mar 5 2013)
A match entirely dominated by characters from the Gestifute agency - Nani (then at Gestifute) was sent off, receiving a consoling hug from opposing manager Jose Mourinho (Gestifute), as Man Utd lost 1-0 lead to a Real Madrid team featuring 4 Gestifute players.
A concerted and co-ordinated gamble on Real Madrid saw 20% of total money matched on the Spaniards being traded in a six minute window at Betfair.
West Brom 5 Man Utd 5 (May 19 2013)
The last game of the reign of Sir Alex Ferguson saw 10 goals from just twelve shots on target amidst goalkeeping by Ben Foster and Anders Lindegaard that would have put Laurel and Hardy to shame.
The pre-match betting market was interesting with professional monies in both directions while mug money on Fergy's last game in charge was swept up.
Standard high stakes poker with a patsy at the table.
Leicester 5 Man Utd 3 (Sep 21 2014)
Fascinating market that saw Leicester come from 3-1 behind with 28 minutes to play to win 5-3 via two late penalties and a sending off.
There was considerable SE Asian money on a victory for United and this knowledge was freely traded around the markets until some very key insider trading occurred later in the market that saw traders hedge, close out and, eventually, inverse their earlier positions.
This late money was very visible at Betfair with 11 of the largest matched bets being against Manchester United in this window.
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