How can poor athletes not at least CONSIDER throwing games?

[fearless]

You're a poor kid from the inner city on a scholarship to some university. You've been raised to think that life's all about the Benjamins, the bling bling.

How can you and your teammates not consider pooling your money and betting against yourselves in Vegas and then throwing a game?

I never see anyone bring this up but I don't see how it's not happening.

[L2Gunz]

This probably happens all the time.

[jtuck]

No doubt. It just seems too easy for it not to be going on.

[fearless]

Yeah and in sports like tennis, it doesn't even take a conspiracy. Wasn't there some kind of news story years ago about the Williams sister's father deciding who was gonna win a match and the sisters following through with what their father wanted? Nice money to be made doing that...

[fearless]

Another thing, there's even situations where even the most upright people could be convinced to take part in the fix. For example, if you're a tiny school and like a 40 point dog to a top team... I could just see certain players telling the religious players, "Look, we're gonna lose anyway, let's make it 50 or 60 points and bet against ourselves, what's the difference?"

BUT, what happens if the 40 point favorite decides to do some point shaving in that same game... That could be hysterical.

I met a guy in Vegas once who was telling me how he thought games were fixed daily. But, he asked me in all seriousness, "What if both sides try to throw the same game?" Good question indeed.

[ryanspeer2001]

I have no doubt games are fixed pretty consistently, but on a much smaller level than some people make it out to be. At the pro level its far too risky for even the poorest players who will most likely make more in a 3-4 year league minimum contract to blow that up. I imagine that small time schools and games with huge spreads (30+) are very likely. I'm a pretty honest person but if my team at a crappy small college was 58 point dogs I would be far more likely to miss a shot or have a few extra turnovers for a small amount of coin.

[unit1884]

Ya but you have to realize that the limits on lower profile games will be much lower, and if someone lays a TON of money on some no-name college basketball game, people are going to get suspicious.

No matter how you look at it, Fixing games is not going to be profitable.

[ryanspeer2001]

Ya but you have to realize that the limits on lower profile games will be much lower, and if someone lays a TON of money on some no-name college basketball game, people are going to get suspicious.

No matter how you look at it, Fixing games is not going to be profitable.

Hands down I agree, but I just simply believe its more likely to happen at lower profile levels of sports. I guess I equate it to comparing how many 7-11's get knocked off compared to National Banks, the reward may only be $24.69 and a chili dog but its far more likely to happen and generally much less risk.

[unit1884]

True...

The only concern in fixing games at an NFL/NBA level are zebras.

Zebra's dont get paid as much as the players, not nearly as much, yet they have way more power in terms of fixing games. I believe that game fixing occurs regularly in the NBA and the NFL.

The best sports to bet if your afraid of game fixing is MLB and NHL, both sports are virtually impossible to rig (NHL is more likely due to penalties, but MLB is pretty safe)

MLB is by far the safest since no player would ever throw a game, they just make too much money. And the Umpires (except for homeplate) really have no control of games.