This unique book delves into a number of intriguing issues and addresses several pertinent questions including, should gambling markets be privatized? Is the ‘hot hand’ hypothesis real or a myth? Are the ‘many’ smarter than the ‘few’ in estimating betting odds? How are prices set in fixed odds betting markets? The book also explores the informational efficiency of betting markets and the prevalence of corruption and illegal betting in sports.

This handbook is a definitive source of path-breaking research on the economics of gambling. It is divided into sections on casinos, sports betting, horserace betting, betting strategy motivation, behaviour and decision-making in betting markets prediction markets and political betting, and lotteries and gambling machines.

Whether by court decision or legislative change, gambling's next expansion in the United States will be sports wagering. However, state and federal policymakers and regulators have limited experience in addressing the many issues that are presented by regulated sports wagering. The challenges they will face are complicated by the fact that sports betting is a global industry encompassing both legal and illegal markets. This book first provides a detailed explanation of the scope and economics of the sports wagering industry and a description of how sportsbooks operate. It then describes the evolving legal landscape for sports wagering in the U.S., culminating in the Supreme Court case that considered New Jersey's challenge to the federal law that has limited sports betting to the state of Nevada. With this foundation, the book turns to an examination of the range of issues that legislators and regulators must consider in establishing regulated sports wagering, such as the need to protect the integrity of sporting events from corruption by criminal elements. Other important topics discussed include the level of regulation needed for sportsbook operators, the proper role of the federal and state governments, taxation, international cooperation, preventing illegal wagering, the role of data collection and analysis, and how to maximize innovation and patron engagement. Legalization is only the beginning of the journey of offering sports betting in the U.S. The authors offer guidance to policymakers as they take up the daunting task of building a regulatory structure for sports wagering. As the book illustrates, the decisions made on how to regulate sports betting will go a long way toward determining the success of this popular form of gambling.

The sports industry provides a seemingly endless set of examples from every area of microeconomics, giving students the opportunity to study economics in a context that holds their interest. Thoroughly updated to reflect the current landscape, The Economics of Sports introduces core economic concepts and theories and applies them to US and international sports. Divided into five parts, the book focuses on three major areas of the economics of sports: industrial organization, public economics, and labor economics. Updates for this seventh edition include: • An entirely new chapter on sports gambling and a fully revised section on intercollegiate sports; • Updated material on social justice in sports and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry; • More coverage of international sports, e-sports, and new biographical sketches. This well-presented and accessible text is supported by easy-to-follow pedagogical features, such as end-of-chapter summaries and questions, and a companion website, which offers useful resources for students and instructors. It is the perfect textbook for intermediate and advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in sports economics.

How do we identify the impact of superstar players? Do referees display any bias? What has happened to competitive balance? Why do players move so freely in today's labour market? Do rule-changes influence behaviour? How effective are incentives in encouraging players to exert maximum effort? The data that professional sport generates, which is unparalleled in any other industry, provides a wealth of information to which economists can bring their analytic toolkit to answer these questions and to better understand the mechanics of professional sport. Advances in Sports Economics is a wide-ranging collection of newly commissioned essays that examines the multifaceted field of sports economics in baseball, basketball, cricket, football, Gaelic games, horse racing, rugby and tennis. Both at the professional and amateur level, sport offers economists the opportunity to study the behaviour, choices and outcomes of decisions of players and referees as well as regulators and governments. The contributors range across questions of incentives, rule changes, labour issues, competition structure, gambling, gender equality, match official behaviour and funding to explore the variety of applications that economic analysis can bring to the field.

During the last few decades, commercial gambling has increased substantially throughout the Western world. More people than ever before have access to sources of legalised gambling, leading to bumper revenues for the institutions involved. Naturally enough, this has led to an increased interest in the area of the economics of betting. This book addresses the issues raised by the continued growth of the gambling sector. How can we model the behaviour of people who seemingly act irrationally? What are the implications of different tax policies with regard to gambling? Are casinos capable of taking money away from state-run lotteries and the causes they fund? Can bookmakers’ odds be influenced in such a way as to make the gambling market inefficient? The authors in this volume provide insights based on data from many different countries, including England, the USA, Australia, Spain and Cyprus. This volume brings together work which addresses the economic impact of the huge growth of commercial gambling in the Western world, as well as trying to model the cognitive processes which can explain why individuals are prepared to behave in such apparently irrational ways. This book was published as a special issue of Applied Economics. The academic editor of this journal is Mark P. Taylor.

An engaging look at the ways economic thinking can help us understand how sports work both on and off the field "Mr. Oyer writes clearly and ranges across all sorts of sports as well as across the globe, introducing fascinating observations."--Henry D. Fetter, Wall Street Journal Are ticket scalpers good for teams? Should parents push their kids to excel at sports? Why do Koreans dominate women's golf, while Kenyans and Ethiopians dominate marathon racing? Why would Michael Jordan, the greatest player in basketball, pass to Steve Kerr for the game-winning shot? Paul Oyer shows the many ways economics permeates the world of sports. His topics range from the business of sport to how great athletes use economic thinking to outsmart their opponents to why the world's greatest sports powerhouse (at least per capita) is not America or China but the principality of Liechtenstein. Economics explains why some sports cannot stop the use of performance-enhancing drugs while others can, why hundred-million-dollar player contracts are guaranteed in baseball but not in football, how one man was able to set the world of sports betting on its ear--and why it will probably never happen again. This book is an entertaining guide to how a bit of economics can make you a better athlete and a more informed fan.