If You Knew Someone Was Betting on Insider Information, Would You Report Them or Ask for the Info?

[oli_sussex]

Ethical question. Real scenario, anonymised.

While working at the exchange I became aware a colleague had a contact inside a Premier League club. Not match fixing. Just genuine inside information on team selections and injury status before public announcement.

He was consistently profitable in a very specific and suspicious pattern.

I said nothing. Didn't report him. Didn't ask for the information either.

Told myself staying out of it was the ethical choice.

Looking back I'm not sure it was. I just didn't want to get involved either way.

What would you actually do? Not what you should do. What you'd actually do.

 

[FadeThePublic]

Honest answer?

I'd ask for the info.

I want to say I'd report it. Sounds better. Protects integrity of the sport I profit from.

But if a mate pulled me aside and said "I know the starting eleven before it goes public" I'd want in.

I'd tell myself it's not really cheating. It's just information. Information exists. Someone has it.

That's the rationalization and I know it's a rationalization.

But yeah. I'd ask.

 

[TaffyTipster]

Report them?

Mate I'd be asking within thirty seconds.

Look I know that's wrong.

But if someone said "I know the Wales team sheet two days early" I'd have my phone out before they finished the sentence.

That's honest.

Not proud but honest.

 

[SharpEddie47]

I want to say report.

My whole betting philosophy is based on finding genuine edges through legitimate analysis. Insider information corrupts the market and ultimately makes it harder for everyone who does it properly.

But would I actually report someone?

No. Almost certainly not.

Would I take the information?

This is where it gets complicated. I'd want to. But I think my CLV-based approach would make me uncomfortable using it. Hard to validate your methodology when the edge isn't yours.

 

[ParlayPrincess_88]

I'd definitely report them!

That's cheating and it's not fair!

...

Actually wait.

If my friend told me something about a Chiefs player before it was announced would I really report them?

Probably not.

I hate that I just talked myself out of my own answer in real time.

 

[CoachTony_Bets]

As a coach I have a different angle here.

Information about players - injuries, morale, internal conflict - sometimes reaches me before it's public. Not because anyone's doing anything wrong. Just because coaching networks talk.

I have a strict personal rule that I never use anything I hear through coaching channels for betting.

Because if I did, I'd be exactly the person Oli is describing.

The line between "I know things because of my professional position" and "insider trading" is thinner than people think.

 

[Klaus]

Would not report. Would not use the information.

Reporting: creates professional complications, uncertain outcome, personal risk.

Using information: violates integrity principles I hold seriously. Also potentially illegal depending on jurisdiction.

Staying out: what Oli describes doing. Probably the actual outcome for most people.

The three options are not equal. Most people default to option three while telling themselves they would choose option one.

 

[DublinDegen]

id ask immediately and feel bad about it later...

thats my honest answer...

if someone said they had inside info id be in immediately... no hesitation... tell myself the remorse comes after...

which is basically my approach to all betting decisions so at least im consistent...

 

[TaffyTipster]

Conor being the most honest person in the thread as usual.

 

[SharpEddie47]

Klaus's three options framing is the right one.

Report: almost nobody actually does this.
Use it: most people would if it was easy and low risk.
Stay out: what people do when they want to feel clean without taking action.

Option three is the comfortable hypocrisy.

 

[FadeThePublic]

There's also a fourth option nobody's mentioned.

You don't report it. You don't use it. But you pay close attention to that person's betting patterns and use THAT as a signal.

"I noticed my mate bet heavily on this team right before the team sheet dropped."

Is following someone's suspicious patterns insider information once removed?

Probably yes. But it feels cleaner.

 

[oli_sussex]

Fade describing what professional bettors and syndicates actually do.

Following sharp money without knowing why it's sharp.

Technically legal. Ethically murky.

The exchange sees this constantly. Patterns emerge around suspicious accounts. Other accounts mirror those patterns.

Insider information ripples outward through the market without direct transmission.

 

[CoachTony_Bets]

Fade that's actually more sophisticated corruption than just asking for the tip.

You've created plausible deniability while still benefiting.

 

[ParlayPrincess_88]

This is getting really complicated lol

I thought there was a clear right answer.

Report them because it's cheating.

Now I'm questioning whether I'd actually do that and also apparently there's a sneaky version that's technically legal?

 

[ThePuntingProf]

The question reveals something important about the gap between stated values and actual behavior, I would like to believe I would report such a person because I have spent thirty years building an analytical approach predicated on finding legitimate edges through mathematical modeling, using insider information would invalidate everything I have constructed about myself as a bettor, however I must be honest that I would almost certainly not report them because reporting involves confrontation and risk and certain professional complications, what I hope I would do is stay out of it as Oli describes, what I fear I would do if the information were directly offered to me in a low-risk context is seriously consider accepting it, the difference between my theoretical principles and my actual behavior under temptation is something I prefer not to examine too closely.

 

[TaffyTipster]

Prof "the difference between my theoretical principles and my actual behavior under temptation is something I prefer not to examine too closely."

That's the whole thread in one sentence.

 

[FadeThePublic]

It's also the whole forum in one sentence honestly.

 

[SharpEddie47]

Here's what makes this genuinely difficult.

The information itself isn't harmful. A team selection isn't secret for moral reasons. It's secret for competitive reasons.

Nobody gets hurt if I know the starting eleven early.

So the ethics aren't about harm to a person. They're about fairness to other bettors and integrity of the market.

And caring about fairness to a market you're trying to beat is... not the most natural instinct.

 

[Klaus]

Eddie identifying the problem with market-based ethics.

To care about market integrity you must value the market's health over your own position within it.

Most bettors think of themselves as competing against the market, not as participants responsible for its integrity.

Insider information feels like winning. Feels like beating the system.

The system's health is an abstraction. The winning is concrete.

 

[DublinDegen]

honestly i never even thought about market integrity...

just thought about whether i could get an edge...

shows where my head is at...