There are still a couple of bias types left to talk about. But picking up from where we left of on the last post…
here is another kind of bias in betting that affects our decision making.
The tendency to not place a bet contradicting your preferred outcome.
Majority of sports bettors are indeed sports fans, to this effect it is only normal that they might have favorite teams. The down side of this is that when placing bets, most bettors find it extremely difficult to bet against their favorite teams.
A lot of bettors are so obsessed with their team’s success to the point of turning down a free bet offer against this team. Yes it’s that bad. In simpler terms, some sports bettors would turn down a chance to earn free cash. So long as it involves rooting against their beloved team even though statistics suggest otherwise.
All this can be related to the simple psychology of wanting an identity.
For example
being called “a red devil” or a blues fan” to some is worth more than money.
This clearly is the opposite of rational, thinking about it shows that an identification with a team is based on emotion. There’s nothing rational about being a Chelsea fan rather than a Manchester united fan. And the blues are likely to win more often, (so says a north Londoner) , emotions speaking.
NB; THIS IS JUST AN INSTANCE TO DRIVE HOME A POINT
Some modern-day bookies also offer bets on political contests, e.g presidential polls.
Imagine a PDP member voting for Buhari to win the then 2015 elections. Even though the payout would have been valuable. It was also a long shot because so many thought Goodluck would clinch it.
On the other hand it was unlikely that APC members would have voted for Goodluck even though he was considered the favorite. An increase in the payout or odds would do nothing to change their minds on who they want to vote for.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE
In the just concluded European champions league, a lot of Barcelona fans fell prey to this bias. This was because statistics did show that the Italian team were going to be very difficult to defeat. AS Roma were going to be a hard nut to crack for Barcelona especially on their own tuff. But a Barcelona fan would rather bet on his team than against his team that is exactly what bias does to you . In the next article we would be rounding up on this topic. Do well to take a review on each post if you missed any so far.
And if you havent found your category yet , maybe you belong in the next one…
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