An Examination of In-Play Sports Betting Using One-Day Cricket Matches

23 Pages Posted: 30 Nov 2006

See all articles by Stephen Andrew Easton

Stephen Andrew Easton

University of Newcastle

Katherine Uylangco

Queensland University of Technology - School of Economics and Finance

Date Written: November 28, 2006

Abstract

There is a wide literature on sports betting markets, a literature that examines the informational efficiency of these markets and uses them as laboratories to test for possible impacts of psychological factors on financial markets. The innovation of this study is the examination of price behaviour in an in-play betting market - namely that for one-day cricket. Cricket provides an ideal construct in which to examine in-play market behaviour, as it is a sport where outcomes can be calibrated as good news or bad news on a play-by-play basis. The results from an examination of over 8000 balls corresponding to over 8000 "news events" shows that the in-play betting market is one in which news is impounded rapidly into betting odds. There is also evidence that odds have a level of predictive ability with respect to outcomes from balls before they are bowled. Further, there is evidence of a drift in odds subsequent to the outcome of balls being known.

Keywords: Sports Betting, In-Play Betting, Market Microstructure

JEL Classification: G14

Suggested Citation

Easton, Stephen Andrew and Uylangco, Katherine, An Examination of In-Play Sports Betting Using One-Day Cricket Matches (November 28, 2006). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=948013 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.948013

Stephen Andrew Easton

University of Newcastle ( email )

University Drive
Callaghan, nsw 2308
Australia

Katherine Uylangco (Contact Author)

Queensland University of Technology - School of Economics and Finance ( email )

GPO Box 2434
2 George Street
Brisbane, Queensland 4001
Australia