‘’Favorite-longshot bias in European Football betting market: Differences between popular and non-popular football competitions.’

Abstract

’The aim of this study is to investigate whether the favorite-longshot bias, an anomaly in sports betting, is present in ten different European football competitions across five years (2013-2018). The study also examines the difference in returns of betting on popular competitions versus betting on non-popular competitions. After performing Welch t-tests on the returns of 47.022 football matches, the results show that a favorite-longshot bias exists in almost all competitions and that there is no significant difference in returns between football competitions.’’ Keywords: sports betting, behavioral finance, anomaly, market efficiency, gambling.