IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ordeca/v15y2018i1p47-52.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Kelly Betting on Horse Races with Uncertainty in Probability Estimates

Author

Listed:
  • Michael R. Metel

    (Laboratoire de Recherche en Informatique, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, 91405 France)

Abstract

We investigate the problem of gambling with uncertainty in outcome probabilities. Stochastic optimization models are proposed for optimal investing on events with mutually exclusive outcomes when probabilities are estimated using multinomial logistic regression. Special attention is given to the case of there being two outcomes and the general case of many outcomes. An empirical study using simulated data was conducted where the loss of return from probability estimation error was observed, and superior returns were achieved taking it into consideration.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael R. Metel, 2018. "Kelly Betting on Horse Races with Uncertainty in Probability Estimates," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 15(1), pages 47-52, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ordeca:v:15:y:2018:i:1:p:47-52
    DOI: 10.1287/deca.2017.0359
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/deca.2017.0359
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/deca.2017.0359?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruth N. Bolton & Randall G. Chapman, 2008. "Searching For Positive Returns At The Track: A Multinomial Logit Model For Handicapping Horse Races," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Donald B Hausch & Victor SY Lo & William T Ziemba (ed.), Efficiency Of Racetrack Betting Markets, chapter 17, pages 151-171, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. L. C. MacLean & W. T. Ziemba & G. Blazenko, 1992. "Growth Versus Security in Dynamic Investment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(11), pages 1562-1585, November.
    3. Donald B. Hausch & William T. Ziemba & Mark Rubinstein, 1981. "Efficiency of the Market for Racetrack Betting," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(12), pages 1435-1452, December.
    4. Rose D. Baker & Ian G. McHale, 2013. "Optimal Betting Under Parameter Uncertainty: Improving the Kelly Criterion," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 10(3), pages 189-199, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vicki M. Bier & Simon French, 2020. "From the Editors: Decision Analysis Focus and Trends," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 1-8, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sung, Ming-Chien & McDonald, David C.J. & Johnson, Johnnie E.V. & Tai, Chung-Ching & Cheah, Eng-Tuck, 2019. "Improving prediction market forecasts by detecting and correcting possible over-reaction to price movements," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(1), pages 389-405.
    2. Hubáček, Ondřej & Šír, Gustav, 2023. "Beating the market with a bad predictive model," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 691-719.
    3. MacLean, Leonard C. & Zhao, Yonggan & Ziemba, William T., 2016. "Optimal capital growth with convex shortfall penalties," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65486, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Strumbelj, E. & Sikonja, M. Robnik, 2010. "Online bookmakers' odds as forecasts: The case of European soccer leagues," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 482-488, July.
    5. Hwang, Joon Ho & Kim, Min-Su, 2015. "Misunderstanding of the binomial distribution, market inefficiency, and learning behavior: Evidence from an exotic sports betting market," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 243(1), pages 333-344.
    6. M. Sung & J. E. V. Johnson, 2010. "Revealing Weak‐Form Inefficiency in a Market for State Contingent Claims: The Importance of Market Ecology, Modelling Procedures and Investment Strategies," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(305), pages 128-147, January.
    7. Roderick Bain & Donald Hausch & William Ziemba, 2006. "An application of expert information to win betting on the Kentucky Derby, 1981-2005," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 283-301.
    8. Bernardo, Giovanni & Ruberti, Massimo & Verona, Roberto, 2019. "Semi-strong inefficiency in the fixed odds betting market: Underestimating the positive impact of head coach replacement in the main European soccer leagues," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 239-246.
    9. Lo Victor S & Bacon-Shone John, 2008. "Probability and Statistical Models for Racing," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 4(2), pages 1-14, April.
    10. Bin Li & Steven C. H. Hoi, 2012. "Online Portfolio Selection: A Survey," Papers 1212.2129, arXiv.org, revised May 2013.
    11. Grant, Andrew & Johnstone, David & Kwon, Oh Kang, 2019. "The cost of capital in a prediction market," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 313-320.
    12. Steven D. Moffitt & William T. Ziemba, 2018. "A Method for Winning at Lotteries," Papers 1801.02958, arXiv.org.
    13. Bernardo, Giovanni & Ruberti, Massimo & Verona, Roberto, 2015. "Testing semi-strong efficiency in a fixed odds betting market: Evidence from principal European football leagues," MPRA Paper 66414, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. MacLean, Leonard C. & Zhao, Yonggan & Ziemba, William T., 2014. "Optimal capital growth with convex shortfall penalties," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 59292, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Ziemba, William, 2020. "Parimutuel betting markets: racetracks and lotteries revisited," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118873, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Erhan Bayraktar & Alexander Munk, 2016. "High-Roller Impact: A Large Generalized Game Model of Parimutuel Wagering," Papers 1605.03653, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2017.
    17. Rosenbloom, E. S., 2003. "A better probability model for the racetrack using Beyer speed numbers," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 339-348, October.
    18. Johnnie Johnson & Alistair Bruce & Jiejun Yu, 2010. "The ordinal efficiency of betting markets: an exploded logit approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(29), pages 3703-3709.
    19. Fellner, Gerlinde & Maciejovsky, Boris, 2007. "Risk attitude and market behavior: Evidence from experimental asset markets," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 338-350, June.
    20. Barge-Gil, Andrés & García-Hiernaux, Alfredo, 2019. "Staking plans in sports betting under unknown true probabilities of the event," MPRA Paper 92196, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ordeca:v:15:y:2018:i:1:p:47-52. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.