Eli5: Why are professional athletes typically banned from placing bets that are in favor of their own team/themselves?

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I understand why you would not want athletes to throw games on purpose if they place a large bet for the opposing team to win, however let’s say I am a pitcher in baseball, and I place a bet for my own team to win, wouldn’t that only motivate me to play better because I stand to win more money by doing so?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Because you have insider information. It’s the same reason you can’t buy stock in your own company on a whim. Yes, you should want your company’s stock to go higher, just like an athlete always wants to win… but you know that you might have a good quarter or that your industry is about to do well, etc. Same thing with an athlete, you have lots of information about players and performance that the other folks making bets do not.

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