Is timing everything in horse betting? Bet amount, timing and bettors’ returns in pari-mutuel wagering markets

Niko Suhonen, Jani Saastamoinen, Tuomo Kainulainen and David Forrest

Economics Letters, 2018, vol. 173, issue C, 97-99

Abstract: Noise trader models suggest that ‘smart money’ profits from uninformed speculators. This paper investigates how rates of return are associated with the timing of a bet and the amount staked in a pari-mutuel horse betting market. We employ a novel data set measured at the level of individual bettors on the Finnish monopoly operator’s online platform. Our findings suggest that, relative to other bets, late high-stakes wagers are more profitable. This implies that, along with timing, bet sizes should be accounted for when analysing market efficiency.

Keywords: Bet size; Individual-level data; Market efficiency; Pari-mutuel betting; Timing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D80 G14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:173:y:2018:i:c:p:97-99

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2018.09.021

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