Journal of gambling markets and economics

This paper uses data from up to 79 bookmakers in any one match to analyze the efficiency of European football betting markets during the 2005/2006 season. We first examine the empirical derivatives of the longshot bias, and find that the bias is much more pronounced for high-grade matches. This arguably supports the information-based explanation of the longshot bias. We also show that internet betting, by giving access to a large number of bookmakers, improves significantly bettors' potential return. Finally, we find that average odds do not provide the best estimate of the likelihood of a result. Indeed, the best available odds are informative as well, even after controlling for the average odds.