Kolo 8 News Now
Written by: Hana Altenburg
RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – From packed sportsbooks to mobile betting apps, wagering on sports has become a major part of the fan experience. According to local experts, the way people are betting is rapidly evolving.
Joe Asher, CEO of Boomers, Nevada’s newest independent sportsbook, says interest has grown so much over the years that it has completely changed the way fans engage with sports.
“Sports and the culture has just become bigger and sports betting has grown because it allows someone to back their opinion,” Asher explains. “They have a rooting interest in the game and then if they’re right they win money, they’re proven right.”
It’s not just the traditional sports books that are gaining popularity, prediction markets have also seen a surge.
“Sports betting has been a very important and vibrant part of the Nevada gaming community,” Asher explained. “The betting exchanges, the so-called ‘prediction markets’, the overwhelming majority of the bets that they take are on sports.”
That shift reflects the growing influence of these prediction markets, platforms where probabilities change in real time based on user activity and sentiment. In traditional sportsbooks, odds are increasingly behaving the same way, adjusting dynamically as money flows in on either side.
But as sports betting expands, researchers are taking a closer look at its broader effects.
At the University of Nevada, Reno, Shaddy Douidar, a finance professor has been studying how legalized sports betting influences behavior, both in gambling and in investing.
In a recent award-winning paper titled “The Only Bet in Town? Sports Betting Legalization and Local Equity Bias”, Douidar examined what’s known as “local equity bias,” a tendency for individuals to favor familiar teams or outcomes when placing bets or making financial decisions.
“It results in this over confidence when bettors win,” Douidar said. “That over confidence carries on to other aspects of finance, like investing.”
The research suggests that…..
