Bettor Habits When Point Spreads and Money lines are Offered on the Same Game: The NFL

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Published: Jan 8, 2015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5750/jpm.v8i3.976
Keywords:
gambling sports bettor biases

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Rodney Paul
Syracuse University
Andrew Weinbach
Coastal Carolina University
Mark Wilson
St. Bonaventure University

Abstract

Bettor preferences and returns are examined in the NFL wagering market where both point spread and money line wagers are simultaneously offered.  In both markets, the balanced book hypothesis can be soundly rejected, with bettors preferring favorites.  Despite the clear difference in how a winning bet on the favorite is achieved in each market, the percentage bet on the favorite in both the point spread and money line markets correspond nearly one-to-one.  Biases are most pronounced in certain subsets of the data, where betting against favorites on both the point spread and money line are shown to reject market efficiency.

Article Details

Issue
Vol. 8 No. 3 (2014)
Section
Articles
Author Biography

Rodney Paul, Syracuse University

Professor - Department of Sport Management - Syracuse UniversityPhD - Applied Economics - Clemson University 2000

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