Are Jockeys Allowed To Bet? (Answered!)

While watching a horse race the other day with a friend, we were talking about whether jockeys might ever bet on themselves to win.

At first it seemed like there would probably be rules against it, but as we thought about it more it didn’t actually seem like there would be anything wrong with it.

Regardless, though, most sports do have strict rules about that prohibit players from betting on the outcome of the game.

Jockeys do have the most direct influence on the outcome of a race, so we weren’t sure.

I decided to look into it.

So, are jockeys allowed to bet?

In general, jockeys are not allowed to bet on races they are in. These rules can vary from country to country, but it is generally accepted that jockeys are prohibited from betting on their own races. There are a few reasons why this rule was originally implemented.

Though a jockey may simply have a lot of faith in themselves to win, it’s easy to understand how it better preserves the competitive integrity of the game if jockeys are not allowed to bet on themselves.

In some places, riders are not even allowed to bet on races at all.

In some ways, horse riding is an archaic tradition with some rules that are slightly dated, but we can see how this rule makes sense.

Let’s look at why.

Can jockeys bet on races?

Jockeys are taken a step further than horse trainers or jockey agents, who can’t lay their own horses in races.

In most places, they cannot bet on their own race at all.

If they are competing in the race, they can’t bet on themselves or anyone in the race.

This is, as I said, often the case with sports.

Players are seen to have too much involvement in the outcome to be able to put a fair bet on.

Though it would be quite difficult to conceal and therefore get away with, it is possible to see how a jockey could bet on a race and then attempt to influence the race in that direction, especially if the bet wasn’t on their own victory.

Since there are rules in place to prevent this and have been for a long time, it’s difficult to know exactly what this would look like, but it is possible.

In some extreme cases, regulators don’t allow active jockeys to bet on racing at all, whether or not they’re involved in the race personally.

This is difficult to enforce at times, and somewhat extreme, but it does happen in places.

In general, jockeys are welcome to bet on races they aren’t racing in.

These rules apply to any bet a jockey could place on a race they’re involved in.

The more general rules about laying your own horse apply to trainers, owners and even jockey agents.

Can jockeys lay their own horse?

So, on the other hand, a fairly obvious point to get out of the way is that no one involved with a particular horse is allowed to bet against that horse—owners, trainers, jockeys, no one can bet on their own horse to lose.

Jockeys can’t bet on themselves to lose, nor can they instruct others to do so for them.

Some believe that this is, in part, due to a dated, classist idea that those riding the horses (typically not as wealthy as the spectators) would be more likely to throw a race in order to win a lay bet.

Of course, this is not true, but nonetheless it makes obvious sense to forbid laying your own horse.

Do jockeys cheat in horse racing?

Cheating in any sport is not unheard of.

While we’ve been talking about the rules around betting, there’s always big money on the line at the more prestigious races and it can drive jockeys to attempt to gain an unfair advantage.

This, however, really has nothing to do with betting.

When there’s a large potential prize on the line, the jockeys don’t need to bet.

Most of the actual cheating that goes on in horse racing is to do with doping, that is using performance enhancing drugs.

All horses are typically drug tested regularly by regulatory bodies, but sometimes cases do slip through the cracks.

However, it typically is not the jockey but the trainer who dopes horses.

In days gone, jockeys might have used a bit of physical roughness to gain an advantage, but it’s too easy to get caught with cameras today.

Fixing races is also not unheard of, although this obviously requires the cooperation of a few jockeys and even their trainers.

In Britain in 2011, four jockeys and two owners were banned for fixing races.

Cheating is more and more difficult to do in horse racing, then.

Preventing jockeys from betting on their own horses, then, is a simple way to maintain the integrity of every race.

Obviously, laying yourself to lose a race would be a red flag that implied you were going to throw the race.

In some places, jockeys are outright banned from betting on races, and this seems unfair in many ways, as it prevents jockeys from enjoying races they aren’t involved with.