by John Howard

Created on: April 04, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

I agree that professional athletes should be able to bet on other professional sports, however not on their personal sport.

As for the "other" professional non-team sports I do not think they should be allowed to bet on themselves at all. I understand your point of
"Yes, an athlete can bet on him/herself to lose but what is the point of that unless the athlete is making millions of dollars to lose. No one would choose or want to be associated with a losing athlete. Thus, it is a disadvantage for an athlete to keep losing."

What if the athlete bet on themselves for second place Yes they lost, however they were second out of how many? Maybe fifty of the top athletes in the world, I would hardly consider them a loser. They could have been first but they would have stood to lose say a couple hundred thousand if they would have taken first, which for most athletes like the "others" that you mentioned make very little in monetary compensation compared to the money they would have made off the bet, or throwing the event. To further help you to realize the gravity of the situation, who is the #1 downhill skier in the world? Who won the super bowl last year? I bet I can guess which one of these you were able to answer first So an athlete should not be able to bet on or against themselves their team or their sport.

I think we can all agree that if properly governed betting by professional athletes on other sports or other teams even on cards is okay, however when it comes to placing bets on themselves or their sport that is where the line has to be drawn.

Ok well they are asking me to write another 600 characters for this article and frankly I think I have made my point in the 1500 characters I have provided.

I guess I will re-visit my point on the actual gain versus loss portion on the "other" sports, again while making a very good living; most of these athletes who do the lesser known sports are comparatively making pennies to the physical and emotional damage they receive from competition. I know if I was a down hill skier with failing knees but still good enough to place and was able to place money on me taking second and gaining more money from that bet than taking first in the competition without really damaging my chances of competing in future competitions I would. Even if it were only twenty or thirty grand, that is still more than the average American makes a year.

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