A preference for bowls? (4)
I believe the answer is:
bias
'a preference' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I can't explain the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bias that I've seen before include "Large city in Florida" , "Bigotry" , "could be binding" , "Inclination of prejudice" , "Spin" .)