There's a very interesting piece on the Telegraph site about a study which has shown that betting is a very good predictor in all kinds of situations and fields:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/18/scibetting118.xml
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/18/scibetting118.xml