C. Nicholas McKinney

Athletic contests and individual robberies: an analysis based on hourly crime data.

ABSTRACT Using hourly data on individual robberies, this article employs a novel approach to investigate the relationship between athletic contests and individual robberies in Memphis, Tennessee, a well-known entertainment destination, with its iconic Beale Street locale, in the US. Empirical results indicate that home basketball games hosted by the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and those hosted by the University of Memphis Tigers are associated with increases in individual robberies, while away games are not associated with such an increase. This finding is consistent with the hot spot theory of crime, as large numbers of individuals travel to the games, thus providing additional opportunities for crime.

Eureka Learning: Heuristics and response time in perfect information games

This paper investigates the possibility that people discover effective heuristics when playing similar perfect information games of varying complexity. We call this discovery experience Eureka Learning. We use a change-point analysis to identify 35 percent of our subjects as Eureka Learners.

The effect of late money on betting market efficiency

This article is an analysis of the price movements in a speculative market at closing. Specifically, we look at 1644 US horse races and analyse the change in betting pool totals and their suggested probabilities to confirm that late wagers on average come from more informed bettors. Almost 40% of all wagering dollars enter betting pools in the last minute of wagering. This ‘late’ money is found to increase efficiency and itself is the best prediction of the true win, place and show probability of a horse. A clustered tobit regression shows that late increases in the betting share on a specific horse increase net returns.

Efficiency and arbitrage across parimutuel wagering pools

Previous studies have found some degree of inefficiency in betting markets. However, it is difficult to implement a strategy to take advantage of these biases. This article investigates and attempts to arbitrage interrelated betting markets by undertaking three betting simulations using two datasets comprised of parimutuel pools from US horse races. Two of the betting simulations are positive returns, but in the most realistic real-time simulation the losses are substantial. Profitable betting opportunities disappear due to last minute wagers which change the odds and increase market efficiency.

The efficiency of exotic wagers in racetrack betting

Many empirical studies have found the existence of a bias where the general public overestimates low probability events. This phenomenon has been termed the favourite-longshot bias and has been much studied in betting markets. This article looks at efficiency in multihorse ‘exotic’ wagers using 11 194 races run at 35 U.S. racetracks. We find the standard favourite-longshot in exacta wagers (involves picking the first two finishers in order). Results are unclear for trifecta wagers (picking the first three finishers in order).