Article (Scientific journals)
Effects of expertise on football betting.
Khazaal, Yasser; Chatton, Anne; Billieux, Joël et al.
2012In Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, 7, p. 18
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Keywords :
Adult; Age Distribution; Analysis of Variance; Female; Gambling/psychology; Humans; Logistic Models; Male; Middle Aged; Self Efficacy; Sex Distribution; Soccer; Surveys and Questionnaires
Abstract :
[en] BACKGROUND: Football (soccer) is one of the most popular sports in the world, including Europe. It is associated with important betting activities. A common belief, widely spread among those who participate in gambling activities, is that knowledge and expertise on football lead to better prediction skills for match outcomes. If unfounded, however, this belief should be considered as a form of "illusion of control." The aim of this study was to examine whether football experts are better than nonexperts at predicting football match scores. METHODS: Two hundred and fifty-eight persons took part in the study: 21.3% as football experts, 54.3% as laypersons (non-initiated to football), and 24.4% as football amateurs. They predicted the scores of the first 10 matches of the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship. Logistic regressions were carried out to assess the link between the accuracy of the forecasted scores and the expertise of the participants (expert, amateur, layperson), controlling for age and gender. RESULTS: The variables assessed did not predict the accuracy of scoring prognosis (R2 ranged from 1% to 6%). CONCLUSIONS: Expertise, age, and gender did not appear to have an impact on the accuracy of the football match prognoses. Therefore, the belief that football expertise improves betting skills is no more than a cognitive distortion called the "illusion of control." Gamblers may benefit from psychological interventions that target the illusion of control related to their believed links between betting skills and football expertise. Public health policies may need to consider the phenomenon in order to prevent problem gambling related to football betting.
Disciplines :
Social & behavioral sciences, psychology: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Author, co-author :
Khazaal, Yasser
Chatton, Anne
Billieux, Joël ;  University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) > Integrative Research Unit: Social and Individual Development (INSIDE)
Bizzini, Lucio
Monney, Gregoire
Fresard, Emmanuelle
Thorens, Gabriel
Bondolfi, Guido
El-Guebaly, Nady
Zullino, Daniele
Khan, Riaz
External co-authors :
yes
Language :
English
Title :
Effects of expertise on football betting.
Publication date :
2012
Journal title :
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy
ISSN :
1747-597X
Publisher :
BioMed Central, United Kingdom
Volume :
7
Pages :
18
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Available on ORBilu :
since 07 February 2017

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