Comparing predictive power of sports odds

[Pietvoerman]

For my MSc Thesis I would like to compare the predictive power of classic bookmakers on the one hand and a betting exchange on the other. I have a lot of data on both types of betting, mostly on soccer matches but I have data on other sports as well. I want to see from the implied probability in the odds if the betting exchange performs better.

I read about ROC-curve and Area under the curve as a measure but I am not sure if I can use this method in my case? Or do you know a better way see which odds predict the outcome of matches significantly better?

Thanks in advance

[trubador]

Yes, they are very useful metrics and are therefore commonly used in practice. Just remember to reserve some data for the testing/validation phase, where you'll actually test the predictive power of your models. You'd better off studying the "cross validation" approach before digging into the analysis. Should you choose to continue with EViews, here is the add-in: http://forums.eviews.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=12261