In the UK, it is perfectly legal and, in fact, ethically acceptable for a player such as a football (soccer) player to bet on his OWN team, or an individual player such as a snooker player to bet on himself. Disregarding the ethics, morality, or even legality of the question, I wonder about certain aspect of how such betting could actually affect the line if people know the principles of the game made a bet?
To be clear, I understand that it is a violation to bet against yourself, or against your team, and such sanctions could include criminal indictment, and as a minimum, suspension or outright banning from the sport itself. In addition, betting of any kind by any player or member of any organization associated with a team, or even the league, is illegal in the U.S. for the most part. To that end, I'm restricting this scenario to the acceptable practice in the U.K. and other countries that allow self-betting.
The initial impetus for this question came from a statement my dad made shortly after Pete Rose was banned from MLB for betting on his own team while managing the Reds. He said that even though Rose bet on his team only, he didn't do it all the time, or do it consistently. In short, if Rose bet big, in theory that meant that he may have had inside knowledge of an undisclosed value upgrade. For instance, he may have changed the lineup, or he may have done things that he knew would give him more of an advantage, and would in fact affect the betting line had it been common knowledge. Conversely, when Rose did not bet on his team, or changed his bet amount away from a consistent progression/regression pattern, then that indicated that Rose had inside knowledge of a value downgrade. This is why Dad said the league was justified it its punishment of Rose, as his betting patterns would have caused artificial and, potentially, fraudulent value in the bet itself, in the same manner that shaving points through poor play would do.
OK, I'm not here to debate ethics or legalities of Rose, I was just using the example given by my dad over 25 years ago. This question is directed to being able to discern patterns of betting, particularly among players in individual sports like snooker. Has any sharp or handicapper ever made a value judgment based upon them knowing how a participant in an event bet? Again, this is somewhat obscure, but aggregate enough obscurities, a pattern may emerge, and a value assigned. Is this a valid value metric?
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To be clear, I understand that it is a violation to bet against yourself, or against your team, and such sanctions could include criminal indictment, and as a minimum, suspension or outright banning from the sport itself. In addition, betting of any kind by any player or member of any organization associated with a team, or even the league, is illegal in the U.S. for the most part. To that end, I'm restricting this scenario to the acceptable practice in the U.K. and other countries that allow self-betting.
The initial impetus for this question came from a statement my dad made shortly after Pete Rose was banned from MLB for betting on his own team while managing the Reds. He said that even though Rose bet on his team only, he didn't do it all the time, or do it consistently. In short, if Rose bet big, in theory that meant that he may have had inside knowledge of an undisclosed value upgrade. For instance, he may have changed the lineup, or he may have done things that he knew would give him more of an advantage, and would in fact affect the betting line had it been common knowledge. Conversely, when Rose did not bet on his team, or changed his bet amount away from a consistent progression/regression pattern, then that indicated that Rose had inside knowledge of a value downgrade. This is why Dad said the league was justified it its punishment of Rose, as his betting patterns would have caused artificial and, potentially, fraudulent value in the bet itself, in the same manner that shaving points through poor play would do.
OK, I'm not here to debate ethics or legalities of Rose, I was just using the example given by my dad over 25 years ago. This question is directed to being able to discern patterns of betting, particularly among players in individual sports like snooker. Has any sharp or handicapper ever made a value judgment based upon them knowing how a participant in an event bet? Again, this is somewhat obscure, but aggregate enough obscurities, a pattern may emerge, and a value assigned. Is this a valid value metric?
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