Cheating Athletes Can Ruin Gambling Experience

2 Aug 2007

The connection between gambling and sports looks pretty natural to almost everyone, and that's certainly the way it should be. After all, why not combine two hobbies together and maybe even win some money on the way ? Millions of people gamble each day on sport events, whether online or offline, and there's obviously nothing wrong with that. As with other gambling games, part of the fun when gambling on sports is the uncertainty. You can never be sure which team is going to win, which is exactly why so many people love sports. The problem begins when the athletes themselves start betting.

Obviously, there's nothing wrong with a famous basketball player gambling on a hockey game or a soccer match. Nevertheless, if that same player starts betting on his personal games then it can become a real serious problem, both for him and for many other people. Not only can it hurt the sportsmanship of the game, but it can also be viewed as interference to the bets placed on that same match. After all, that player can have an enormous influence to the game, something which cannot be foreseen or controlled by anyone.

Probably, the most famous case in modern sport belongs to Pete Rose, a former player and manager in Major League Baseball. In August 1989, three years after he retired as an active player, and following several accusations on gambling on baseball games that he was involved with, Rose agreed to permanent ineligibility from baseball. His hopes to be included one day in the game's Hall of Fame were vanished, of course. This sad story is just one of many cases, but it certainly shows us why sports and gambling should be connected most of the time, but limited when it comes to the athletes involved.

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