Unlike the financial investment industry, where investors have access to vast quantities of research and employ this information in the belief that it will help them deploy their funds profitably, people betting on sports (with the exception of a tiny group of sophisticated gamblers) and cultural events rely largely on guesswork and intuition.

This is not to suggest that they are ignorant about the subjects they bet on. On the contrary, sports bettors tend to be highly knowledgeable and opinionated, but their knowledge comes from news and match reports rather than a thorough, methodical analysis of all the factors at play. Their information is broad and general rather than targeted, focussed or specific.

Those that bet on the outcome of cultural events have little more than a hunch to go on.

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