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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Did you just explain why there should be regulations on the stock market?
That’s a great question. I’ve always thought of that relative to the Pete Rose thing. I see absolutely no harm in an athlete betting on themselves or their team to win. Shows confidence.
You nailed it in your opener. Players throwing games to win money.
Has been a thing ever since the Chicago “Black” Sox scandal where 8 players allegedly conspired with a Gambling magnate (something) Rothstein to throw the 1919 WS in exchange for cash.
It’s same as insider trading at companies. They know more than the general public so they have an unfair advantage. It also could lead to shifty situations for players to try to collaborate and make money across teams.
In most American professional sports, the seasons are long enough that it’s not reasonable to expect to win every game. If a Major League Baseball team lost 50 regular season games, that would go down in history as one of the all time greatest seasons.
Teams don’t play even schedules. Games against divisional opponents matter a lot more than games against non-divisional opponents. Sometimes, it might not be a terrible thing to lose a non-divsional game if it allows you to rest up your players so they can be at their best in an upcoming divisional game.
Imagine an East coast baseball team is finishing up a West coast swing. They have a Thursday afternoon game, immediately fly across the country after the game and begin a 3 game weekend series against a divisional opponent. The strategy for that Thursday game might be to rest players so they’ll be in a better position to win the more important games over the weekend. Players who bet on their team to win that Thursday game might overexert themselves on Thursday and hurt their team’s chances to win the weekend series.
Inside info and point shaving or throwing the game etc.
Easier to just not let them but I am sure it’s easy enough to get around. Could just do it online or thru a friend etc.
Because they still have inside information about their team that other people may not have.
For example, they may know that a star player who is listed as questionable is probably going to play, based on the way practice has been run or catching a conversation.
Also, knowledge of the gameplan may give them a heads-up on yardage prop bets for players on the team. For example, if they know the game plan is to run the ball a lot, they could bet on their running back to get a lot of yards.
Pro athletes (and coaches, training staff, management, etc) all have inside knowledge that is not known to the general public.
For example: The quarterback has missed practice all week because of a sore hamstring. The team lists him on the injury report as “Questionable” for the next game. But you – as a player or coach or other employee of the team – *know* that the QB is going to play and that the injury is very minor.
Since the injury report lists him as questionable, the sports betting people may have your team as the underdog going into the game. You place a bet on your team to win against those long odds because you know the QB is playing.
On top of that, when you place that bet *for* your team, the bookies are going to take that as a sign that you know something they don’t….like the QB being able to play. Now they adjust the lines so that other gamblers don’t wager large sums of money on a long shot that isn’t actually a long shot.
In the end, it all comes down to maintaining the integrity of the league. When you have people within the league placing bets on the league, it takes away from the authenticity of what is happening on the field.
I know right? Cuz politicians are allowed to buy and sell stocks they personally have power over through beurocratic endeavors
You could play bad in the lead up to the bet making the odds shift then play well when you have made the bet
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