I suggest you don’t risk a sum of money against someone else’s for a future outcome (bet). Instead you could each contribute to a purse, or prize pool that will be given to the winner.
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I don’t see how that is any different because you’re still gambling on an outcome… even if not with precision. I’m still gambling money to try to collect a payout. To the pot… or on the side… doesn’t really matter except for controlling who the possible outcomes are.
The penalty of suppression doesn’t impact the player’s ability to compete in events around the world. It simply pulls them from the rankings system and makes them unable to participate in our “Corporate” campaigns (SCS, IFPA WC, etc).
We will leave it to the TD’s to enforce the penalties that they see fit for their own events based on this conduct. TD’s are welcome to run a more strict policy at their convenience.
I’m far less focused on side bets between players, pot splits, etc. My focus on the growing interest of off shore gambling sites focusing on pinball as an offered sport is to curtail any potential shenanigans with those outlets.
Knowing that any rulings I make after the fact couldn’t have been evaluated by the players before hand, I will certainly take that into account in deciding on whether to simply hand out a warning.
Before answering the next 1400 hypotheticals on whether “Is this fine?” . . . “Well is THIS fine?” . . . “If that’s not fine is THIS fine?” . . . I’m going to assume that most people understand the issue I’m trying to nip here.
As for tournament side pots (like Pinburgh used to have, and the Power100 has), I consider that part of the ‘entry fee/prize package’ of the tournament. I don’t classify that as gambling or betting on a player’s own performance.
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Ah… in reading I missed ‘suppression’ for ‘suspension’.
I still think the rule is poorly structured to fit your goal of shaping some behavior as bad, and others as acceptable. It’s a double standard that just muddies things.
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I’ll take your opinions under advisement. We’ll update our verbiage as the impact of gaming in our sport continues to evolve. Most professional sports update their rules regarding gambling all the time:
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/pga-tour-implementing-more-comprehensive-gambling-policy-for-2018
For me it was important to at least get this initial policy launched before the upcoming Texas Pinball Festival, North American Championship, Women’s World Championship and IFPA Pin-Masters . . . all of which MyBookie is accepting bets on.
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Ive got $10 that says I am the first to get banned for gambling illegally.
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Would I be suppressed for taking you up on this $10 bet for the purposes of giving you extra incentive to wager on yourself, and thus become suppressed, which in turn would earn me more WPPRs in any event in which you finish higher than me?
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Can I run a Calcutta or not?
You can if I don’t find out about it . . . 
House games are fine. If you’re broadcasting this to a larger audience to try and gain interest and support from the ‘outside world’ . . . I would be far more likely to take issue with it.
I’m not here to break the rules. Just wanted to know if it was allowed or not. Thanks!
I think you could just specifically exempt wagers between the players themselves from the rule without opening any loopholes. A player wagering on themselves is still going to try to win. Any oddball bets would fall under collusion rules.
I understand the way that some people are keen to nitpick about verbiage and hypothetical scenarios, but putting that to one side.
Realistically,
How many people are going to be placing a bet of any significant size anyway?
Who are these people likely to be?
If competitors can’t place a bet, simply get a friend or family member to place the bet - problem solved.
I really can’t ever see a time when a professional gambler is going to offer inducements for people to throw a game, or attempt to fix a specific outcome the same way it is seen in many other sports (Tennis, Football, Cricket) the money just isn’t there.
With the cash values of the payouts at the major US comps (which I assume are going to be the only ones with any markets offered by a betting company) being so significant it would take a huge bet for you to be better off to throw a game rather than taking the increase in prize money.
It would be interesting to know, after the event,
total money bet on the event
average value of a bet
number of bets placed
number of unique gambling patrons
Even more interesting would be to see what the P&L was.
But absolutely zero chance of seeing any of this.
As someone who is currently putting a lot of time into sports betting (got to find a way to fund the ever spiralling cost of machines in the UK)
I can think of at least another half dozen scenarios to skew the odds in your favour. However with the likelihood of the pool of people betting, and the likely small value of these bets, they would stand out like a sore thumb.
I suggest that most people would treat it like a bit of fun, and nothing more.
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If Hollywood has taught me anything in reality it plays out like this.
- Player accumulates large debt betting on other sports.
- Bookie offers to wipe debt if they throw Pinburgh.
- Player agrees, but then on ball 3, they look over and see their young child cheering them on and decide, “my honour is worth more than my life”. They rally back and win pinburgh.
- The Bookie beats them to death.
- That young child goes on to be the greatest superhero the world has ever seen, saving us all from aliens, or Nazis, or zombies or alien-Nazi-zombies or something.
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I think it’s pretty cool. If anything it gives everybody with odds an opportunity to posts screenshots on Facebook and call themselves wagered-upon-athletes.
It could also go
#4 Bookie tries to kill the Player
#5 Player saves bookie from the Nazis and the bookie forgives the debt and calls some of his friends to go to work on the Nazi with the gunshot wound.
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I work with with gambling regulatory issues as part of my job, and the clamp down on offshore sportsbooks in the US, especially in states like NJ with legal regulated sports betting markets, is real. Just last month, a website offering links promoting offshore sportsbooks was issued warnings from Deputy Attorney Generals from the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement. The position from various state gaming regulators is that these websites are unregulated, dangerous, and constitute illegal gambling.
If the IFPA is going to be promoting an offshore sportsbook on its website, my advice is to research the applicable criminal laws for promoting these sites in various states.
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Thanks for the article.
Clicking through a couple of things I learned that betting on PGA Golf is legal in five states so far with a few more on the way. As you mention, all these regulations are state by state now.
Sounds like collusion to me. 
This used to be considered collusion but I think we took that specificity out at some point?