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Edward Wray:
We’-re one of the very, very few Internet betting companies that have never taken a bet out of the U.S., and that’-s because our view has always been it is illegal, which it clearly is now, and so long as it’-s illegal, we’-re not going to do it. That’-s a long-term strategy. Clearly some people made good money out of taking bets out of the U.S. in the short term, [and] have now found themselves in trouble with the authorities. Gambling should be regulated, we’-re very comfortable with that. There are things that need to be safeguarded — how you look after vulnerable people, how you make sure it’-s a clean, above board business, etc. — you don’-t achieve that by prohibiting business. You achieve it by regulating it. The U.S. has tried prohibition once before and it wasn’-t a roaring success. And I think they’-ll find the same thing here. I don’-t know how long it will take, but I’-m more confident than ever that the U.S. market will open up, and when it does, we will be right at the hub of it. It’-s frustrating to us that people in the U.S. can’-t access Betfair. But we go out of our way to make sure they can’-t because the law is the law and we will always respect that.