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Widespread Corruption in Sports Gambling: Fact or Fiction?

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  • Richard Borghesi

Abstract

We examine whether point‐shaving is widespread in National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball by comparing bet and game outcomes with those in professional sports. Results suggest that unusual patterns previously suspected to be indicators of point‐shaving are ubiquitous throughout sports and unlikely to be caused by corruption. We suggest that line shading by sports books may explain the anomalies in game and bet outcome distributions.

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  • Richard Borghesi, 2008. "Widespread Corruption in Sports Gambling: Fact or Fiction?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(4), pages 1063-1069, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:74:y:2008:i:4:p:1063-1069
    DOI: 10.1002/j.2325-8012.2008.tb00881.x
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    1. Woodland, Linda M & Woodland, Bill M, 1994. "Market Efficiency and the Favorite-Longshot Bias: The Baseball Betting Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 269-279, March.
    2. Roger Vergin, 2001. "Overreaction in the NFL point spread market," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(5), pages 497-509.
    3. Gray, Philip K & Gray, Stephen F, 1997. "Testing Market Efficiency: Evidence from the NFL Sports Betting Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(4), pages 1725-1737, September.
    4. Justin Wolfers, 2006. "Point Shaving: Corruption in NCAA Basketball," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 279-283, May.
    5. Steven D. Levitt, 2004. "Why are gambling markets organised so differently from financial markets?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(495), pages 223-246, April.
    6. Golec, Joseph & Tamarkin, Maurry, 1991. "The degree of inefficiency in the football betting market : Statistical tests," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 311-323, December.
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