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I do not think that there is any reason for a professional athlete to be banned for life from playing the sport that he/she trained for throughout most of their life and for the one that they are so good at. In most states, the lottery exists and this is a form of gambling. Does this mean that every person that plays the lottery should be fired from their job or even imprisoned? How can this actually happen? What I do not believe should be allowed is that a professional athlete should not be allowed to gamble on the outcome of their own game(s) where they would be performing at below average standards to actually throw the game or go to any lengths to make sure that the team they are associated with wins the game.

Pete Rose was the first known professional athlete to be banned from entering the Hall of Fame for baseball. Is this fair? To a slight degree, I believe that this is fair, only if he truly bet on the team that he played for and coached was involved in the gambling. He has been banned for life from being able to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame, so lo and behold, the yes side one in this case. However, I do believe that this should be reviewed for accurate information depending on the timing of the betting and if he bet on his own team, The Cincinnati Reds.

In today's society, gambling outside of the areas of Sin City (Las Vegas, NV) and Atlantic City (NJ) is extremely illegal to some degree. There is betting in areas of Florida on dog races and in other ares of the country there is betting on the occasional horse race. This seems to be just fine. So, what is so bad about a professional athlete betting on the outcome of a baseball, basketball, football or hockey game? What about betting on a gymnast for a college team? What about betting on a college team, period? This happens probably every day behind the scenes and it might be illegal, but as long as it is not known about, it happens. Again, I truly believe that as long as the professional athlete does not bet on his/her own team and the outcome of the game is not effected, then there should be no problem.

Here is another take on this. If the professional athlete is not playing in a particular game that is being gambled on due to being out due to an injury, then maybe, just maybe it would be ok to bet on that game; again, only if the outcome does not hurt the team that he/she plays with.

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