Benefits and non-benefits of sports betting markets
Andrew Gelman October 30th, 2006
Chris Masse wrote this about ways in which sports betting markets could be used to catch fixed matches. He wrote this as a refutation to my comment that
I enjoy gambling in semi-skill-based settings (poker, sports betting, election pools, etc.), and betting markets are cool, but it is useful to step back a bit and consider the larger economic benefits or risks arising from such markets.
Let me just clarify here. My point was not that sports betting had horrible social consequences, but rather that it was, by and large, socially neutral: an amusing pastime (which I enjoy too) but no big deal. In contrast, betting markets for wheat futures or other economic outcomes serve a positive social function by allowing farmers etc. to hedge their bets. I wasn’t saying there was anything wrong with sports betting, I was just echoing the letter-writer’s point (someone I quoted in this entry). The letter-writer mentioned sports corruption but that wasn’t really my point here.
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“betting markets are cool, but it is useful to step back a bit
and consider the larger economic benefits or risks arising from such markets”.
Thanks for comment.
I think what the author try to explain is that there is anything wrong with sports
betting. What is more is that the author enjoys sports betting however
sometimes it causes horrible social consequences, i agree with this.
Many thanks