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Gambling on a sport/event you cover

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Dick Whitman, Feb 26, 2011.

Page 4 of 5
  1. holy bull

    holy bull Active Member

    It's easy to call it a conflict of interest, on paper, but the reality is that, in all honesty, I've found that it's not difficult to separate betting and covering racing. And I don't know anybody who has been compromised by it. That's just the way it is. I've had nice scores on big races that I was covering, and the mentality at the time is, "well, I'll just think about that ticket later, when I'm done working."

    Crist and Beyer are the perfect example. Because those guys are players themselves, they bring the bettor's/reader's perspective into their writing. Racing and betting are inextricably joined.

    Ben Hecht, as you must know, the Crist-Hayward friendship goes back to Charlie's days as the CEO of the DRF. And if you're patiently sitting on any 25-1's, remember that you have friends here.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
    holy bull, Feb 28, 2011
    #37
  2. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member

    The 25-1's (and up) tend to come when the public falls in love with the wrong horses in a race, and a horse primed to run well on a particular day falls through the cracks. When a legitimate 3-1 shot's even money, math dictates there's something good, out there. You just have to find it.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
    Ben_Hecht, Feb 28, 2011
    #38
  3. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Does that include NCAA Tournament pools and buying squares for the Super Bowl? Stuff like that?
     
    Ace, Feb 28, 2011
    #39
  4. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    Back in my day, our editor got worried about some co-workers playing $20 parlay cards duing football season. His objections struck me as a bit overblown, but I have to admit his way of preventing it was pretty effective. All he said was, "I see one of those (or hear about it) in this office, you have one week to provide me with a bylined story that names names about the local parlay business."

    Amazingly, all discussion of parlays diminished rapidly.
     
    doctorquant, Feb 28, 2011
    #40
  5. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    In other words, all they did was shut up about it around him.
     
    TheSportsPredictor, Feb 28, 2011
    #41
  6. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member

    Backs up, over $20 plays on parlay cards?

    Parlay cards are not typically the smartest way to go, here, unless you've got a card with a couple of really off-market lines on it, but Enforcement is setting the bar rather low, here.

    Now, if some deskman is playing $500 five-teamers, I can envision cause for a measure of concern.

    Being a Chicago guy, it's always fun to dredge up the history of an old Tribune denizen, Mr. Lingle . . . first name, Jake. Google away.
     
    Ben_Hecht, Feb 28, 2011
    #42
  7. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    The first bookie I ever had, I got from a guy at my first paper. Frankly, I've never understood folks in sports departments that are vehemently anti-gambling. We all know that there's a segment of the population that lives to bet and if they're getting any information whatsoever from us, great. As someone said earlier, anyone who is so heavy into it that their work is compromised or suffering is going to get outed soon enough.

    As I've said many times before, I have no problem with someone putting money behind picks that appear in print -- horses, football, whatever. There are far too many stupid "football picks" columns where the writer is trying to sound smart, and if the writer put money behind them he/she would get killed and realize that it's not much of a reader service.

    And if they were good at it, they oughta get out of this racket and try that one. I knew a guy who did. Have no idea how, or if, he's making a living at it today, but good for him for giving it a shot.
     
    playthrough, Feb 28, 2011
    #43
  8. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member

    Over 150 years ago, Joe Medill labelled the sports section the gambling pages.

    He was correct.
     
    Ben_Hecht, Feb 28, 2011
    #44
  9. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    A better debate to me has always been whether or not a paper should print lines. I worked for a while at a small paper where the SE didn't run them, if asked why his face would shrivel up like he just smelled rotten eggs and he's say "it's...gambling." We were on opposite sides of that argument.
     
    playthrough, Feb 28, 2011
    #45
  10. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    In his defense, that is illegal. What if the news department did a story on illegal gambling and found that sports staffers were regulars.

    It would be an uncomfortable situation for the sports editor if folks were flashing parlay cards in the news room.
     
    Ace, Feb 28, 2011
    #46
  11. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    For the record, I'm not at all against gambling as a general matter. I'm against sports writers gambling on events that they are going to cover, because it is a conflict of interest.

    I think there is a huge difference between the two.
     
    Dick Whitman, Feb 28, 2011
    #47
  12. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Gotta love the backtracking by McCormick the day after. ;)
     
    buckweaver, Feb 28, 2011
    #48
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