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Cited by 50Sports Analytics and PerformanceFinancial Markets and Investment StrategiesGambling Behavior and Treatments

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 12 of the 12 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Price Setting in the NBA Gambling Market: Tests of the Levitt Model of Sportsbook Behavior

Paul, Rodney J., Weinbach, Andrew P.·2008·International Journal of Sport Finance
DOI 10.1177/155862350800300302
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Abstract

Levitt (2004) suggested that sportsbooks do not set prices in the NFL to clear markets, as was commonly assumed, but set prices to maximize profits. This paper uses actual betting data from four sportsbooks to test the Levitt (2004) hypothesis in the NBA. For a sample of the 2004-05 to 2006-07 seasons, it is shown that favorites receive a disproportionate share of NBA pointspread bets. In addition, the percentage of bets the favorite receives increases with each additional point of the pointspread. In the totals market, it is shown that overs receive a much higher percentage of bets compared to unders and the percentage bet on the over increases with each point of the total. Unlike the NFL, however, taking a contrarian position and betting against public sentiment is not found to win more often than implied by efficiency.

Overview

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Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/155862350800300302

Cites

12 of 12 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Citations

Cites

Show all 12 references

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. ManterisA., & TalleyR. (1991).Superbookie. Chicago IL. Contemporary Books, Inc.
  2. PaulR., WeinbachA., & MaharJ. (2007). The betting market response to the 2-point conversion in the NFL. Journal of Business and Economic Perspectives,33(1), 98–109.
  3. RoxboroughM., & RhodenM. (1998).Race and sports book management. Las Vegas, NV: Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
  4. SauerR. (1998) The economics of wagering markets.Journal of Economic Literature,36(4), 2021–2064.

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Metadata

Authors
Paul, R. J., & Weinbach, A. P.
Affiliations
  • St. Bonaventure University (US)
  • Coastal Carolina University (US)
ORCID
Venue
International Journal of Sport Finance
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2008-08
Volume
3
Issue
3
Pages
137-145
ISSN
  • 1558-6235 (ISSN-L)
  • 1930-076X
DOI
10.1177/155862350800300302
OpenAlex
W1599717521
Semantic Scholar
4f0fc2e2a6c2897a3854cbd5ac56177b286ec42a
Cited by
50
References
12
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 5
FWCI
6.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • International Journal of Sport Finance (publishedVersion)
  • International Journal of Sport Finance (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Sports Analytics and Performance
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Finance › Financial Markets and Investment Strategies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Gambling Behavior and Treatments
Keywords
sports betting, NBA, implied probabilities, market efficiency, public sentiment, profit maximization

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Price Setting in the NBA Gambling Market: Tests of the Levitt Model of Sportsbook Behavior. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1177/155862350800300302
The paper
Paul, R. J., & Weinbach, A. P. (2008). Price Setting in the NBA Gambling Market: Tests of the Levitt Model of Sportsbook Behavior. International Journal of Sport Finance. https://doi.org/10.1177/155862350800300302

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.