Bet on the Opposing Team

Can a risk-averse sports fan bet on his opponent to hedge his happiness?

In a theoretical paper, Stemmet models the happiness of a sports fan as a function of opposition strength, tournament situation, quality of the game, and expected result of the game. The results of the paper suggest that people who bet on the opponent and face an unexpected loss are happier than if they hadn't done so. However, the happiness is lower if a person bets on the opponent and the team that he supports has an unexpected or expected win. The authors suggest that if people are risk averse and are more affected by a loss than by a gain, then they will choose to hedge their happiness.

Betting on the opponent can be looked at as an either here or there situation. The fan is able to mitigate risk and remain happy(or at least not unhappy) regardless of the outcome of the game. However, this strategy is not applicable to everyone.  For many fans,  it would be considered disloyalty to bet on the opposing team.

References:
Stemmet, B. (2011). Hedging one’s happiness–Should a sports fan bet on the opponent? (No. 20/2011).

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