Wednesday 14 December 2005 – a landmark date in the betting world. A day when Betfair and its specials markets became frontpage news. The Daily Mirror’s headline read: ‘Xposed – a betting scam that raked in a fortune from reality TV shows such as X Factor has been smashed!’ This was followed by segments on the BBC and ITV news programmes.

Allegedly, a BT worker with access to phone-vote totals on reality TV shows was tipping off four further friends, who were then placing a string of late winners on the betting markets on, say, who would be eliminated each show on I’m A Celebrity.