Are sportsbroadcasters allowed to bet?

[alexei]

I always wondered if these sportsbroadcasters or media people who conduct interviews with the players bet which team to win. They have wealth of resources that the general public dont have. Is there any laws that retrict these people from betting because if they were, i would imagine they would hit most of their picks based on their resources.

[BigdaddyQH]

As far as I know, there is no general law that forbids it. Each company may set their own policy about wagering, but I do not know of any specific law that forbids gaming by sportscasters.

[huscroft6]

Musberger does

[Mendoza Line]

Having worked in sports broadcasting for over 15 years, I can tell you that somewhere in the neighborhood of 75% of broadcasters wager. If you sit in any press box, you'll see writers and broadcasters on their laptops with an extra window or two open for checking scores on games they shouldn't have any other reason to care about. You see them click on it, then click back real quick, as if no one knows why they're looking at scores every 5 minutes. In an environment where you hang out in the halls talking sports all day, and do the research to make on-air picks, it's a natural thing to think you can profit. You think SVP and Cowherd, who each know the lingo and the process so well, and both of whom have winning records, don't play their picks? I don't think there is an advantage to being around sports information, as some of the best analysts I know are the worst pickers. Knowing sports and knowing how to wager aren't the same thing.

As for legality, sports broadcast employees are usually under the rule of their employer. Some want no gambling at all, others limit it. CBS employees are not supposed to wager on any game CBS is broadcasting, which of course, includes the NCAA tourney. ESPN/ABC employees are under a similar rule. I have never known any sports employee who wagers that follows the rules. No one has ever said to me, "I love that game, but can't play it because it's on my network." Most assume they'll never get caught, and many always wager a game they're working just to be more involved. Most sportscasters who wager agree that it actully helps them keep up better with the overall sprots world, which helps them be more generally knowledgeable, hence, better broadcasters.

There you go.

[Bobtheicon]

Originally Posted by huscroft6

Musberger does

F*ck yeah he does. I like being on the same side as him too; makes it more fun

[The Judge]

Originally Posted by alexei

Are sportsbroadcasters allowed to bet?

Absolutely not.

[dave nz]

They are here....alot of good fades, same with most around the world. Thats why they earn a living broadcasting and not betting.

[prolineprofessor]

Mus and Jimmy the Greek used to pick teams (well Jimmy did the picking) by the spread on the CBS pregame show back in the 70's as I recall lol...

[RIPPLE]

Al Michaels does.You can hear it in his voice and the way he speaks in the 4th quarter.Plus guys on WFAN said he does.Plus Al owns a few horses worth tons of money and goes to the track when he has time.

[RIPPLE]

TV SPORTS; When Derby Sportscasters Also Own Horses

By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Published: May 7, 1991
A few minutes into the pre-race programming for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday came a reminder that ABC apparently doesn't mind a helping of conflict of interest when it involves star announcers Jim McKay and Al Michaels.

Here was McKay's introduction of Michaels: "Now let's move over to my ABC Sports colleague, now a thoroughbred owner himself, Mr. Al Michaels."

And Michaels's greeting: "James, I am just following in your footsteps. And save me a spot in the winner's circle someday, will you?"

McKay and Michaels don't hide their horse interests, but every time they report on a horse race, they are part of the business of the sport they are paid to cover.

McKay's conflicts go deeper than those of Michaels, who only owns a half-interest in a 4-year-old thoroughbred that recently finished second in a race at Santa Anita. McKay breeds horses, belongs to The Jockey Club, horse racing's presiding body, is a spokesman for the Thoroughbred Racing Association and is the founder and chairman of the Maryland Million, a one-day event for horses bred in Maryland.

An ABC Sports spokesman, Mark Mandel, said: "McKay is someone whose reputation as a journalist is beyond reproach, and he'd never put himself in a position to compromise his duties. And Al is in absolutely no conflict since his horse doesn't appear on our broadcasts."

Michaels's agent, Arthur Kaminsky, argues that his client's thoroughbred investment is as insignificant as a $2 parimutuel bet, as unimportant as if the "Monday Night Football" announcer owned 2 percent of the Birmingham Fire of the World League of American Football. "He'd be stepping over the line if he reported on a horse he had an interest in," Kaminsky said.

Unlike with other journalists, the visibility of broadcasters makes them attractive for a variety of commercial opportunities and endorsements. John Madden, Billy Packer, Dick Enberg and Don Criqui have appeared in television commercials, while Pat Summerall and Marv Albert are familiar voice-overs in radio commercials. But this involvement does not cross over into on-air work.

The pay-per-view monster has struck again, this time in the unlikely locale of Minneapolis-St. Paul. Not that the Twin Cities doesn't deserve to be cursed with pay-per-view television as much as any place. But the TV home of Mary Tyler Moore has played host to an unusual pay-per-view success story because of the improbable Stanley Cup run of the North Stars, who were hosts for the third game of the Campbell Conference finals against the Edmonton Oilers last night.

Noting the team's Cinderella finish in the regular season, the North Stars decided in March to put their home playoff games, which weren't contracted to their regional cable or broadcast channels, on pay-per-view. Games sold for $9.95 each during the first two series. Games in the conference finals cost $12.95, as would games in the Cup finals if the North Stars defeat the Oilers.

The six pay-per-view games to date (three against the St. Louis Blues and three against the Chicago Blackhawks) have proved to the North Stars that money can grow on icy trees. The first two games drew between 15,000 and 18,000 buyers. Game three lured 20,000, game four 24,000, game five 26,000 and game six 32,000.

The buy rate -- the percentage of cable TV homes with access to pay-per-view who buy a game -- posted by eight cable systems in the Twin Cities has swelled from 2.5 to 7.5 percent. The pay-per-view stats for last night's game should be as illuminating as the goals scored.

"We've netted about $500,000 from the first six games," said Pat Forciea, the North Stars' vice president of communications and operations. In the team's contract with KMSP, the team's broadcast channel, the North Stars net $20,000 a game; the team's cable outlet, Midwest Sports Channel, pays $26,000 a game.

Jim McKay had to recover quickly after the Derby when he summed up Strike the Gold's triumph only to have the camera train itself on Fly So Free, then on Hansel. . . . Frank Cashen, the Mets' general manager, filling in for Tim McCarver on Friday and Saturday's games on WWOR, defended his non-invitation of Davey Johnson to Old-Timer's Day, emphasized that Kevin Elster has the potential to hit .260 and joked after Mark Carreon's pinch-hit home run on Saturday that "somebody in this organization is going to have to make a decision." . . . When he wasn't doing a play-by-play of his wooing of the Knicks' coaching job, NBC's Pat Riley conducted some sharp interviews on Saturday's show before the N.B.A. playoff game between Philadelphia and Chicago. At one point, Riley asked the Pistons' Isiah Thomas if his teammates felt "toxic resentment" against him. What's the slick-haired one been doing lately, reading books on codependency?

[Paulinski]

Originally Posted by RIPPLE

Al Michaels does.You can hear it in his voice and the way he speaks in the 4th quarter.Plus guys on WFAN said he does.Plus Al owns a few horses worth tons of money and goes to the track when he has time.

shorts stocks too

[the penguin]

Originally Posted by prolineprofessor

Mus and Jimmy the Greek used to pick teams (well Jimmy did the picking) by the spread on the CBS pregame show back in the 70's as I recall lol...

most of the guys you see pick are brutal. there was only one guy that his picks were usually right on and they got him off the air quick. joe thiesman is someone i havent seen giving picks for a few years. i think they got him off the air because he was so good.

[microphone]

No they are not and the NCAA especially frowns on it. Not that they don't.