Professional sports worldwide are always hounded by accusations of match fixing. Whether it be at an administrative level or the players on the field, historically there have been many examples of sports being rigged. The recent world title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley attracted renewed accusations to a sport that has always been criticised for eyebrow raising decisions both in and out of the ring. Pakistani cricketers seem to be facing new charges of match fixing after every game they play. The point of this article is not to decide whether the sport is rigged, but to take advantage of a phenomenon.
In sports with a referee in the ring or on the field there is always a margin of human error. Whether it be due to incompetence or not it is always bound to happen. This can be sometimes construed as intentionally influencing a game but more often than not it is a cause of more unforeseen factors.
If a referee is officiating a match between two football sides the home team has an advantage. The advantage is often construed as the fans giving more moral support to the home side through sheer noise, making their players more comfortable than their opponents. To me the greatest advantage is by influencing the referees on the field. The referees, especially in football are under intense scrutiny. In severe cases some officials have lost their lives over decisions. Even the most headstrong of officials will at times make a human decision to do what the majority favours.
In boxing who the decision favours is sometimes less clear. What you need to do as a bettor is work out who has the most to gain from the decision of a contest and then work out which opponent winning is in their best interest. It is not because the sport is rigged, but because the influence of doing what the largest stakeholder wants is a tough psychological barrier to get around for judges, referees, umpires or whoever is officiating. It won’t always work, but I guarantee that the variance of making a decision with that in mind will give you an edge in the long run.
This article is on behalf of Australia’s premier online betting site.