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
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.
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Citations
Cites
Why are Gambling Markets Organised so Differently from Financial Markets?
Levitt, S. D. (2004) · The Economic Journal · doi:10.1111/j.1468-0297.2004.00207.x · Cited by 377
Prices of State Contingent Claims with Insider Traders, and the Favourite-Longshot Bias
Shin, H. S. (1992) · The Economic Journal · doi:10.2307/2234526 · Cited by 182
Optimal Betting Odds Against Insider Traders
Shin, H. S. (1991) · The Economic Journal · doi:10.2307/2234434 · Cited by 166 · cited 2×
“Unlike Shin (1991, 1992), however, Levitt suggested biased pointspreads in the NFL betting market reflect a sportsbook’s confidence that its forecasts are superior to those implied by the betting aggregate.”
Beating the Spread: Testing the Efficiency of the Gambling Market for National Football League Games
Zuber, R. A., Gandar, J. M., & Bowers, B. D. (1985) · Journal of Political Economy · doi:10.1086/261332 · Cited by 144
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Market Efficiency and Football Betting
Pankoff, L. D. (1968) · The Journal of Business · doi:10.1086/295077 · Cited by 83 · cited 1×
“This model differs substantially from the traditional models of sportsbook behavior, such as Pankoff (1968), Bassett (1981), Zuber et al. (1985), Sauer et al. (1988), and summarized in Sauer (1998), where pointspreads are set by sportsbooks to balance the betting dollars between favorites and…”
DOES SPORTSBOOK.COM SET POINTSPREADS TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS?
Paul, R. J., & Weinbach, A. P. (2012) · The Journal of Prediction Markets · doi:10.5750/jpm.v1i3.429 · Cited by 68
Self-citationMarket Efficiency and a Profitable Betting Rule
Paul, R. J., & Weinbach, A. P. (2002) · Journal of Sports Economics · doi:10.1177/1527002502003003003 · Cited by 66
Self-citationTesting efficiency in gambling markets
Even, W. E., & Noble, N. R. (1992) · Applied Economics · doi:10.1080/00036849200000106 · Cited by 49
Efficient markets, fair bets, and profitability in NBA totals 1995–96 to 2001–02
Paul, R. J., Weinbach, A. P., & Wilson, M. (2003) · The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance · doi:10.1016/s1062-9769(03)00033-4 · Cited by 28
Self-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 4
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Bettor Belief in the “Hot Hand”: Evidence From Detailed Betting Data on the NFL
Paul, R. J., Weinbach, A. P., & Humphreys, B. R. (2012) · Journal of Sports Economics · doi:10.1177/1527002512465414 · Cited by 26
Self-citationSentiment Bias in National Basketball Association Betting
Feddersen, A., Humphreys, B. R., & Soebbing, B. P. (2018) · Journal of Sports Economics · doi:10.1177/1527002516656726 · Cited by 25
Betting Market Outcomes and NBA Television Viewership
Salaga, S., Tainsky, S., & Mondello, M. J. (2019) · Journal of Sport Management · doi:10.1123/jsm.2019-0046 · Cited by 23
Does Bettor Sentiment Affect Bookmaker Pricing?
Flepp, R., Nüesch, S., & Franck, E. P. (2012) · Journal of Sports Economics · doi:10.1177/1527002514521427 · Cited by 22
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Self-citationProspective measures of competitive balance: application to money lines in major league baseball
Bowman, R. A., Ashman, T., & Lambrinos, J. (2012) · Applied Economics · doi:10.1080/00036846.2012.750421 · Cited by 20
Home advantage and mispricing in indoor sports’ ghost games: the case of European basketball
De Angelis, L., & Reade, J. J. (2023) · Annals of Operations Research · doi:10.1007/s10479-022-04950-7 · Cited by 18
Baseball: A Poor Substitute for Football—More Evidence of Sports Gambling as Consumption
Paul, R. J., & Weinbach, A. P. (2011) · Journal of Sports Economics · doi:10.1177/1527002511417630 · Cited by 18
Self-citationSportsbook pricing and the behavioral biases of bettors in the NHL
Paul, R. J., & Weinbach, A. P. (2009) · Journal of Economics and Finance · doi:10.1007/s12197-009-9112-4 · Cited by 18
Self-citationPaul, R. J., Weinbach, A. P., & Humphreys, B. R. (2013) · The Journal of Gambling Business and Economics · doi:10.5750/jgbe.v5i2.569 · Cited by 16
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Understanding Price Movements in Point-Spread Betting Markets: Evidence from NCAA Basketball
Humphreys, B. R., Paul, R. J., & Weinbach, A. P. (2013) · Eastern Economic Journal · doi:10.1057/eej.2013.10 · Cited by 9
Self-citationCEO Turnover: More Evidence on the Role of Performance ExpectationsPreprint
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Metadata
- Authors
- Paul, R. J., & Weinbach, A. P.
- Affiliations
- St. Bonaventure University (US)
- Coastal Carolina University (US)
- 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
- 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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