Investigating efficiency in betting markets: Evidence from the Greek 6/49 Lotto

In this paper we investigate the existence of profit opportunities in the Greek market for the 6/49 Lotto. Under the assumption of random number selection we find evidence suggesting that the market is efficient. Because number selection is found to deviate from randomness, we further investigate the existence of profit opportunities due to number unpopularity. The evidence suggests that although unpopular numbers exist, they are not sufficiently unpopular so as to generate positive expected payoffs.