Pro Athletes & Gambling On Sports

Gambling has been going on forever. Gambling on sports specifically is no different. In fact, it’s probably one of, it not the biggest thing bet on in the world. Here in the United States for many many years, Las Vegas has really been the epicenter of the gambling world, especially the sports gambling world. It wasn’t until recent years that other states have finally jumped on board of allowing sports betting. As much as the regular fan likes to gamble on sports, so does the professional athletes that play these sports. Some have bet on the sport they play, and others have bet on other sports instead. A few of the most famous athletes in the history of this country have been known to gamble and some got “caught” gambling on sports which is a huge no-no as we’ve seen some get banned for life, suspended half and even full seasons. It poses the question, should pro athletes be allowed to bet on sports like the rest of us?

Now, while I do agree that they shouldn’t be allowed to bet on the sport they play whether it be on the NFL or College level, I do think they should be allowed to throw some coin around on other sports they don’t have anything to do with. There are just too many dangerous factors to allow them to bet on their sport, but I see no issue for the men and women who want to, be allowed to bet on other sports. Just the other day we saw that six players in the NFL were suspended for various amounts of time for betting. Some were doing it on football and others were doing it on other sports. The reason the players gambling on other sports were targeted was because it was done at a team facility which I guess is a major no-no. In a sense I could understand that, considering you probably have an employer out there who has things they don’t want done on company property. Stadiums have sportsbooks on-site now with all this legalization of the industry, so many ask if it’s in the stadium for fans, why can’t the players do it, as long as it’s not on their own sport? They have beer stands in the stadium for fans and I’m pretty sure the organizations don’t want their players pounding beers before the action either.

My personal take? Let players gamble on sports, but not on their sport. Let them gamble on their phones in the locker room if it isn’t getting in the way of game prep or working out, or anything to do with the daily running of their duties while there. Those players spend an insane amount of time in those buildings, and to ask them to hold everything off until they leave is absurd. Even a cashier gets a break to make personal calls, scroll through Social Media, or even place a quick bet on a sports betting app. If it’s outside their specific sport, I truly believe it is being blown way out of proportion. You can monitor it to keep the integrity, but we don’t need to control everything folks. I’m sure there are some Mario Kart or video game bets being handed out around those facilities too. Other than the obvious of staying away from gambling on your sport, I don’t see this being too big a deal to allow professional athletes to gamble on sports.