During my research on soccer matches I have discovered many prejudices, against or for, certain situations that occur in football matches. I would like to clarify a few of these common myths for you.

Modern economic theory determines that where there is a free market in which goods and services are freely tradable the market will, generally, determine a market price that is "efficient".

Good news, it is possible to improve your chances of winning a lottery.

What is a bookie? Many people ask this question and it was indeed one of the first "puzzles" I solved when looking at betting exchanges. Curiously I found no explanations anywhere on the Internet or in bookshops. So here is an explanation....

The answer to this question has quite surprisingly been around for ages though it is discussed, analysed and refined often. Named after its author, John L Kelly Jr, if was first published in 1956.

Are you a rotten gambler or just plain unlucky? You seem to have hit on a winning system when woe and behold you are struck down by a really bad losing run and with it your confidence. So, were you just unlucky?

One of the most valuable uses to which a gambler can put his knowledge of probabilities is to decide whether a game or proposition is fair, or equitable. To do this a gambler must calculate his 'expectation'.

Some gamblers might he tempted to base staking plans on the theory that in any series of even-money events there must come a time sooner or later when the outcomes reach equipartition.

In 1665, three years after his death, Pascal's famous arithmetical triangle was published. Pascal's Triangle is a well known mathematical pattern.

It is frequently stated in books and articles on probability that if a succession of monkeys were set before a typewriter with limitless paper, eventually the complete works of Shakespeare would be repeated by chance.