New entry, strategic diversity and efficiency in soccer betting markets: the creation and suppression of arbitrage opportunities
We find that prices offered by competing bookmakers within the same quote-driven soccer (football) betting market provide arbitrage opportunities. However, the management practices of bookmakers prevent informed bettors exploiting these in practice. We identify two groups of bookmakers, ‘position-ta...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49935/ |
| _version_ | 1848798113736687616 |
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| author | Grant, Andrew Oikonomidis, Anastasios Bruce, Alistair C. Johnson, Johnnie E.V. |
| author_facet | Grant, Andrew Oikonomidis, Anastasios Bruce, Alistair C. Johnson, Johnnie E.V. |
| author_sort | Grant, Andrew |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | We find that prices offered by competing bookmakers within the same quote-driven soccer (football) betting market provide arbitrage opportunities. However, the management practices of bookmakers prevent informed bettors exploiting these in practice. We identify two groups of bookmakers, ‘position-takers’ and ‘book-balancers.’ Position-takers alter their odds infrequently, while actively restricting informed traders. Book-balancers actively manage inventory by adjusting odds, and place few restrictions on their customers. We identify 545 arbitrage portfolios, and find that around 50% would require a bet on the favourite at the position-taking bookmaker. The management practices of position-takers generally prevent these opportunities being exploited in practice. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:14:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-49935 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:14:37Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-499352019-09-05T04:30:52Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49935/ New entry, strategic diversity and efficiency in soccer betting markets: the creation and suppression of arbitrage opportunities Grant, Andrew Oikonomidis, Anastasios Bruce, Alistair C. Johnson, Johnnie E.V. We find that prices offered by competing bookmakers within the same quote-driven soccer (football) betting market provide arbitrage opportunities. However, the management practices of bookmakers prevent informed bettors exploiting these in practice. We identify two groups of bookmakers, ‘position-takers’ and ‘book-balancers.’ Position-takers alter their odds infrequently, while actively restricting informed traders. Book-balancers actively manage inventory by adjusting odds, and place few restrictions on their customers. We identify 545 arbitrage portfolios, and find that around 50% would require a bet on the favourite at the position-taking bookmaker. The management practices of position-takers generally prevent these opportunities being exploited in practice. Taylor & Francis 2018-03-05 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49935/1/Arbmirage_150218.pdf Grant, Andrew, Oikonomidis, Anastasios, Bruce, Alistair C. and Johnson, Johnnie E.V. (2018) New entry, strategic diversity and efficiency in soccer betting markets: the creation and suppression of arbitrage opportunities. European Journal of Finance . ISSN 1466-4364 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1351847X.2018.1443148 doi:10.1080/1351847X.2018.1443148 doi:10.1080/1351847X.2018.1443148 |
| spellingShingle | Grant, Andrew Oikonomidis, Anastasios Bruce, Alistair C. Johnson, Johnnie E.V. New entry, strategic diversity and efficiency in soccer betting markets: the creation and suppression of arbitrage opportunities |
| title | New entry, strategic diversity and efficiency in soccer betting markets: the creation and suppression of arbitrage opportunities |
| title_full | New entry, strategic diversity and efficiency in soccer betting markets: the creation and suppression of arbitrage opportunities |
| title_fullStr | New entry, strategic diversity and efficiency in soccer betting markets: the creation and suppression of arbitrage opportunities |
| title_full_unstemmed | New entry, strategic diversity and efficiency in soccer betting markets: the creation and suppression of arbitrage opportunities |
| title_short | New entry, strategic diversity and efficiency in soccer betting markets: the creation and suppression of arbitrage opportunities |
| title_sort | new entry, strategic diversity and efficiency in soccer betting markets: the creation and suppression of arbitrage opportunities |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49935/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49935/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49935/ |