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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• Carving a legal niche for prediction exchanges in the U.S.
• BetFair fixes the corruption that it suscitates (since short selling could be used by cheating athletes or jockeys).
• We could use a US Gambling And Betting Commission, but the best would be to have prediction exchanges (modeled after BetFair) that alert the sports bodies about any suspicions.
• In Favor Of Sports Betting
• New discussion thread about the BBC documentary about sports betting…