Professional athletes, especially those at the highest level, command gigantic salaries and are under a lot of pressure to perform well on the field. They must have confidence that they are always amongst the best at what they do. Are confident athletes allowed to put their money where their mouth is by betting on themselves?
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Can a Professional Athlete Bet on Himself?
Professional athletes are not allowed to bet on themselves. Most of the major professional leagues have strict rules prohibiting this activity, and individual athletes tend to find it nearly impossible to pull it off even if they wanted to.
Not only do athletes run into legal and ethical issues, but sportsbooks always pay attention to where big bets come from. With all that said, there are ways for people to bet on themselves in other ways if they want to risk it.
Team Sports and Betting
Every professional league at the highest level has strict rules that prohibit any type of gambling in the sport. This means that even if a person wants to bet on their team to win every single game, they aren’t allowed to. It’s all about withholding the integrity of the game and making sure that everyone is giving their best effort.
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Players found guilty of betting on themselves can face permanent bans from those leagues. It’s very hard to bounce back from this offense. Not only does betting ruin that individual’s reputation, but it puts everyone else at risk as well.
From a fixing perspective, it’s much harder for sportsbooks to try to have an impact on a team sport. They would need multiple people on board to ensure a win or a loss. Even over 100 years ago, the 1919 Chicago White Sox live on infamously for being paid to lose the World Series. Eight of those players received a permanent ban from baseball.
Individual Sports and Betting
If an athlete is to get away with betting on themselves, it’s almost always going to be in an individual sport. Most still view this as illegal and unethical, but there aren’t always huge risks involved with getting caught. Generally speaking, the lesser-known the sport is, the easier it is to get away with betting.
There is some debate about this issue, with opinions split between those who believe that it is unethical for athletes to gamble on their performance and those who don’t see any harm in this practice. Some argue that if an athlete bets on himself and loses, he will feel more pressure to perform well to make back the money he lost on his own bets. This could potentially lead to poor performances or have other negative consequences for both the athlete and his team.
On the other hand, others say that betting on oneself can help an athlete perform at his best. For example, if an athlete knows that he is heavily favored to win a certain match or game, he may slack off and not give it his all. However, by betting on himself, the athlete discovers that there are real stakes involved in the performance and must therefore take the competition much more seriously.
The Gray Area of Betting in Sports
To act like athletes don’t bet on themselves in some way would be very naïve. There are, without question, athletes who have found ways to go through some sort of loophole to put wages down on themselves or their team.
Perhaps the easiest way to pull this off is to have someone else make bets on behalf of the player. They provide the money to make it work, and it goes from there. Sportsbooks are constantly looking for this type of suspicious behavior, so the only way athletes get away with this is if they do so without raising any red flags. Generally speaking, that means not betting a ton of money at any one time, and spreading out bets by placing wagers on other contests along the way.
There’s also the opportunity to bypass other people and just place wagers through online sportsbooks. There’s still a lot of information that they collect, and it needs to be an actual person behind the account to make it work. There are a lot of risks involved even when using a fake name through an online sportsbook, but it’s been tried in the past.
What makes betting even more complicated is that as it becomes more mainstream, athletes are promoting sportsbooks and other forms of gambling. On one hand, they hope that plenty of people start betting to receive part of that money coming in. On the other hand, they are potentially risking their entire career if they place a wager on themselves or in the league they play in.
How Athletes Bet on Themselves with Contracts
There’s a saying in sports that when a player goes into the final year of the deal without having a new one signed, they are essentially betting on themselves. This is because they often feel like they can make more money after showing the rest of the world what they can do in their final season with their current contract.
There’s a bit of a gamble for any athlete getting contract offers and turning them down to bet on themselves. Injuries are always part of the picture, and depending on the severity, they can derail a player’s entire career. All of a sudden, they are not getting nearly the same contract they would if they signed earlier when they weren’t injured.
Without even realizing it, athletes are taking gambles on themselves throughout their careers. Everyone who reaches the highest level beat the odds. Feeling invincible is a blessing and a curse for top athletes.
Infamous Betting Scandals In Sports
The 1919 Chicago White Sox has already been mentioned in this article, but what about other infamous betting scandals? It never ends well for those accused, which is why few try it.
Many sports fans are familiar with the fact that Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life for betting on games. He claims that he would only bet on his team to win, and it would act as a way to motivate in some ways. Despite these claims, he is no longer allowed at any official MLB events, and he’s been denied getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
A few betting scandals have rocked college basketball, including the Boston College point-shaving scandal in the late 1970s. Teams found it very difficult to bounce back from these issues after being near the top of the sport.
Most recently, NFL standout Calvin Ridley received an indefinite suspension for betting on games. As of right now, he will miss at least all of the 2022 season, with a chance for it to last longer than that. He also must give up his $11.1 million in salary.
Why Athletes Should Avoid Any Betting Issues
The smartest thing for any athlete to do is to avoid betting issues altogether when it comes to their sport. There are plenty of legal ways to place wagers on other things if a person is competitive. Teams have card games, individual competitions in practice, and so much more with sizable wagers on the line. It’s not like many casual gamblers make a ton of money betting on sports anyway. The safer investment is working hard in their particular sport.
There are more gambling outlets than ever before. All an athlete has to do is stay away from placing any bets on themselves or their teammates. Most top athletes competing at the highest level receive plenty of compensation for going out there and playing. It’s not worth risking that money to win some bets here and there.