Sports betting has become a favourite pastime for many sports lovers. The industry is huge, with bettors from all over the world being brought together by their love for sports. As the most popular sport in the world, people bet on football from every corner of the globe.
Aside from their abilities on the pitch, football players are sports lovers. The question is, can these sports enthusiasts place their bets on other sports? As most people know by now, footballers are banned from betting on any football-related markets worldwide.
Read on to discover if football players can partake in the fun on platforms like sports betting UK, where you can find all the odds you need, as well as on other online casinos.
Why Can’t They Bet on Football?
Considering that a football player will be a player in the match, it’s fairly evident why they can’t wager on their own game. It’s commonly stated in a player’s contract as to what they can and can’t do in terms of betting, and one of the prohibited actions is betting on their own team.
Retired footballers are permitted to place bets. The only thing to note is that they shouldn’t be involved in the sports industry in any way, including coaching.
What Happens When They Bet?
So, what happens if a footballer is found betting in the football market? For starters, they can face punishment if caught placing a bet in a football market. The punishments include heavy fines and bans for betting offences. Several examples of high performers were caught betting illegally over the years. Here are two notable incidents:
Kieran Trippier told friends he would sign for Atlético Madrid in 2019. This led to his friends placing large bets on transfers. He was banned from football for ten weeks and charged a hefty fine of £70 000.
Daniel Sturridge also passed on some information regarding a transfer in 2019. He was found guilty of breaching betting rules, banned from playing for four months, fined £150,000 and sacked by the Turkish club Trabzonspor.
Where Football Players Can Place Their Bets
Footballers are permitted to wager on a variety of other games, including horse racing, dog races and even gambling in authorised casinos. As such, most footballers enjoy gambling and sports betting as a pleasurable pastime.
They can place their bets on other games because they can’t control the outcome. For instance, Erling Haaland can bet any sum of his $40 million net worth on other sports, but you can bet he will not be placing any wagers on football. Football players can be involved in the market by way of performing on some of the greatest stages and producing the best sports betting odds.