Abstract

Recent studies have documented the existence of an own-race bias on the part of sports officials. In this paper we explore the implications of these biases on betting markets. We use data from the 1991/92 - 2004/05 NBA regular seasons to show that a betting strategy exploiting own-race biases by referees would systematically beat the spread.

Recommended Citation

Larsen, Tim; Price, Joe; and Wolfers, Justin (2008) "Racial Bias in the NBA: Implications in Betting Markets," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports: Vol. 4 : Iss. 2, Article 7.
DOI: 10.2202/1559-0410.1112
Available at: http://www.bepress.com/jqas/vol4/iss2/7