This paper examines the efficiency of the “in-play” Australian Rules football fixed odds betting market at quarter time, half time, and three quarter time. Tests of semistrong efficiency are performed on the 2009 AFL season using logistic regression analysis. The results demonstrate that as the match progresses, there is a significant bias against the team that is currently leading—a bias that increases when the team that is leading is also the away-favorite. This bias is shown to yield significant profits utilizing simple betting strategies.
BrailsfordT. J., EastonS. A., GrayP. K., & GrayS. F. (1995). The efficiency of Australian football betting markets.Australian Journal of Management, 20, 167–195.
2.
DareW. H., & MacDonaldS. (1996). A generalized model for testing the home and favourite team advantage in point spread markets.Journal of Financial Economics, 40, 295–318.
3.
DareW. H., & HollandS. A. (2004). Efficiency in the NFL betting market: Modifying and consolidating research methods.Applied Economics, 36, 9–15.
4.
FamaE. F. (1970). Efficient capital markets: A review of theory and empirical work.Journal of Finance, 33, 383–423.
5.
GandarJ. R., ZuberR., O'BrienT., & RussoB. (1988). Testing rationality in the point spread betting market.Journal of Finance, 43, 995–1008.
6.
GandarJ. M., ZuberR. A., JohnsonR. S., & DareW. (2002). Re-examining the betting market on Major League Baseball games: Is there a reverse favourite-longshot bias?Applied Economics, 34(10), 1309–1317.
7.
GolecJ., & TamarkinM. (1991). The degree of inefficiency in the football betting market.Journal of Financial Economics, 30, 311–323.
8.
GrayP. H., & GrayS. F. (1997). Testing market efficiency: Evidence from the NFL sports betting market.The Journal of Finance, 4, 1725–1737.
9.
LevittS. D. (2004). Why are gambling markets organized so differently from financial markets?Economic Journal, 114, 223–246.
10.
PaulR. J., & WeinbachA. P. (2007). Does sportsbook.com set pointspreads to maximize profits? Tests of the Levitt model of sportsbook behavior.The Journal of Prediction Markets, 1(3), 209–218.
11.
PaulR. J., & WeinbachA. P. (2008). Price setting in the NBA gambling market: Tests of the Levitt Model of sportsbook behavior.International Journal of Sport Finance, 3(3), 137–145.
12.
RyallR., & BedfordA. (2009). An automated approach to compare in-the-run markets with score in evaluation of team performance. To appear in proceedings of the7th International Symposium on Computer Science in Sport.
13.
SchnytzerA., & WeinbergG. (2008). Testing for home team and favourite biases in the Australian Rules football fixed-odds and point spread betting markets.Journal of Sports Economics, 9(2), 173–190.
14.
ThalerR. H., & ZiembaW. T. (1988). Parimutuel betting markets: Racetracks and lotteries.Journal of Economic perspectives, 2, 161–174.
15.
WoodlandL. M., & WoodlandB. M. (1994). Market efficiency and the favourite-longshot bias: The baseball betting market, Journal of Finance, 49, 269–279.
16.
ZuberR. A., GandarJ. M., & BowersB. D. (1985). Beating the spread: testing the efficiency of the gambling market for national football league games.Journal of Political Economy, 93, 800–806.