British entrepreneur
Andrew Black (born 13 May 1963) is a British entrepreneur who, together with Edward Wray, a gambling entrepreneur, founded 🛡 Betfair, the world's first and largest bet exchange. He is now a noted angel investor in technology businesses in the 🛡 UK and further afield, and is a keen race horse owner and professional bridge player.
He has won many awards, most 🛡 notably Ernst & Young emerging entrepreneur of the year in 2002 (shared with Wray).[1]
Early life [ edit ]
Black was born 🛡 on 13 May 1963, the son of a property developer and grandson of Tory MP for Wimbledon Sir Cyril Black, 🛡 who campaigned, among other things, against gambling.[2] He attended King's College School in Wimbledon, where he excelled at maths (according 🛡 to a moneyweek profile in 2009, not citable due to an entry in Wikipedia's blacklist) and then attended the University 🛡 of Exeter but was asked to leave during his second year, saying later that he had spent most of his 🛡 time at the bookies rather than attending lectures.
Career [ edit ]
Black took a succession of unskilled positions after dropping out 🛡 of university but when his younger brother, Kevin, contracted a debilitating brain infection at the age of 19 Black gave 🛡 up work to look after him until his death aged 21.[3] Black then worked in the City of London for 🛡 a derivatives business, but during this time was becoming increasingly successful as a gambler, eventually earning sufficient money in winnings 🛡 to give up work and concentrate on gambling full-time for a while. After initial success, full-time gambling looked unlikely to 🛡 provide sufficient financial support for Black, who was newly married, so he set up a software business. The business won 🛡 an on-site contract at GCHQ which involved being 'locked out of the office' every day at 5.00 pm, giving him 🛡 long evenings during which to refine his ideas for a bet exchange. He became friends with Wray through playing bridge 🛡 together[3] and showed him a prototype he had programmed which succeeded in securing Wray's interest and investment.
Betfair [ edit ]
Black 🛡 and Wray launched Betfair in 2000, having secured £1m of investment from friends and family. Requests for venture capital investment 🛡 had been rejected by the funds they had approached.[3]
Other bet exchanges launched at the same time, but worked on the 🛡 basis of offering single bets which interested punters would then accept individually. Betfair operated on a model more similar to 🛡 a financial exchange, allowing among other things, multiple small bets to fill a position offered by a gambler wishing to 🛡 place a large stake on a wager. This approach, combined with the acquisition of rival Flutter in 2001, secured Betfair 🛡 90% of the bet exchange market in the UK within a few years of launch.
In 2010 Betfair was floated on 🛡 the London Stock Exchange[4] at a £13 share price which valued it at £1.4bn, making Black's 15% stake worth approximately 🛡 £200m. Black is known to have retained much of his stake, benefiting from the share price's subsequent climb to £44 🛡 before Betfair was delisted when it was merged with Paddy Power in 2024.[5]
Post-Betfair activities [ edit ]
On 3 August 2009, 🛡 Black announced that he was going into partnership with Michael Owen with regard to Owen's Manor House Stables; Tom Dascombe 🛡 has been hired as trainer and the stated ambition is to own and train Group 1 horses on the Flat.[6] 🛡 Black and Owen were the joint owners of the racehorse Brown Panther, who won the Goodwood Cup in 2013 and 🛡 the Irish St. Leger in 2014, winning the latter by six lengths.[7]
Investments [ edit ]
Black's known investments include a significant 🛡 stake in Hydrodec Plc where he has acted as a non-executive director and whose UK operations he acquired[8] in 2024; 🛡 ownership of Morelands Riverdale,[9] a science park being built at Hampton, Surrey; a 30% stake in golfbidder,[10] a sizeable stake 🛡 in Touchlight Genetics, and a portfolio of early stage life sciences, gambling, sports and ecommerce business.
Blog [ edit ]
Black has 🛡 his own horseracing blog "Bert's Blog" where he discusses his bloodstock operations.[11] The blog also features interviews with former Betfair 🛡 staff such as Tony Clare, Steve High and Martin Cruddace.
