College sports betting is needed

The worlds of sports gambling and college sports have almost become synonymous over the years because of their interaction. There is no doubt of a connection between two, especially during the college football bowl seasons but it resonates especially during the time known as March Madness, which is the men’s Division I college basketball tournament.

An astounding 37 million people are expected to participate in pools, or wagering with bracket picks amongst one another for cash and prizes, according to an estimate by Challenger, Gray and Christmas, a job counseling firm in Chicago. On the Internet, people are engaged in pools as well. As many as 200,000 pools have been created on Facebook reaffirming the popularity of the tournament with wagering and betting on March Madness.

These pools in turn help to increase the popularity for college basketball, the NCAA and its respective teams and organizations. However, the question is whether the wagering and betting during March Madness is a problem for the game and the NCAA? Sure it generates money and popularity for all those involved, but does it harm the game?

With so much money on the line, there are concerns among many in the NCAA that student-athletes or others involved in the athletic departments of many schools may get involved in gambling. It violates NCAA policy, specifically article 10.3 of the Division I manual, which states, “Individuals shall not knowingly participate in sports wagering activities or provide information to individuals involved in or associated with any type of sports wagering activities concerning intercollegiate, amateur or professional athletics competition.”

This means student-athletes as well as athletic administrators and staff members cannot engage in filling out their own brackets for pools if there is a fee or any money involved.

There have been many incidents in the history of college basketball where players have thrown games or “shaved points” which decides games in their favors because of deals made with bookies or bettors. Historical events of gambling on college basketball include Florida guard Teddy Dupay who was linked to a gambling investigation which eventually ended his career in 2001. Four years earlier, two former Arizona State basketball players, Steven Smith and Issac Burton Jr. both pleaded guilty to a point-shaving scheme.

To compare these events to college basketball films, one of the first movies that come to mind is the 1994 release of “Blue Chips,” which starts Nick Nolte and Shaquille O’Neal. In the movie, Nolte plays the coach of a college basketball team but finds out one of his players was part of an alleged point-shaving incident with a booster of his basketball program. Nolte chooses for a while to keep the matter under wraps because it went unnoticed by governing parties like the NCAA and the conference. Also, an upcoming film to be released later this year, called “Boston College Point Shaving Case”, will investigate the dealings of Boston College basketball players who dealt with mafia in fixing games in the early 1980’s.

With so many incidents affecting the integrity of the game and many others that probably will never come out, there are questions if betting should even be allowed on college sports.

Many in the sports realm who follow gambling were able to give insights on this growing and possibly unstable problem.

Josh Peter, a writer for Yahoo! Sports recently published, “Betting Threat” on March 18, which investigates the link of gambling to student-athletes.

Peter believes that with the introduction of pools on the Internet, there is more concerns about what many college athletes may get into.

“Internet pools have contributed to the NCAA's concerns about athletes' involvement in gambling. Not so much because of the pools themselves, but because of the vast array of gambling opportunities available online,” Peter said in an e-mailed interview. “You no longer have to find a bookmaker, and you can place a wager even more discreetly. And that concerns the NCAA.”

With so much more accessibility, you may think the NCAA would look into Web sites like Facebook to try to deter some of these pools from happening. But Eric Benderoff, a technology reporter for the Chicago Tribune, who wrote an article, “Facebook sites face scrutiny for NCAA March Madness pools” on March 14, believes that the NCAA will not take action.

“I do not think the NCAA will get involved in enforcing illegal pools,” said Benderoff in an e-mailed interview. “Overall, I think the NCAA has a tremendously hypocritical attitude toward this. It's possible they may assist the Feds go after illegal gambling, but only if it involves student-athletes or perhaps people close to those athletes. Otherwise, they will continue to operate with blinders on.”

To see what some Division I schools were doing with March Madness coming up, I explored what was going on at Ball State University in Indiana. Kyle Shaner, the assistant sports editor of the BSU Daily Newspaper, published his article, “Gambling in polls prohibited,” on March 20 which offered insight on the situation at his school.

Shaner maintains that those close to the athletics department have made clear of the policy at the school and with the NCAA regarding gambling as he learned in his own article while interviewing a men’s tennis player.

“Joe Vallee, a men's tennis player at Ball State, said the team is reminded every year about the NCAA's no-gambling policy. The teams are reminded right before the NCAA basketball tournaments, he said,” Shaner said in an e-mailed interview. “Ball State informs all of its coaches and athletics staff and the reminders are then relayed to the teams. From what I've been told, the coaches are responsible for telling their players and they do that in person. So it appears that Ball State does remind its athletes and staff about the policies but it is not extremely vigilant and prying into the people's lives.”

Still, there is a consensus that even though gambling on sports like college basketball is a problem, it is needed for its continued stay of interest.

“I think gambling increases TV viewer ship, which in turn increases what networks can charge advertisers for airtime and what networks are willing to pay for broadcast rights,” Peter said.

“But gamblers who have wagered on the betting line are inclined to watch that game until the final horn.”

“I have no problem with the policy and it seems like members of the NCAA do not either,” Shaner said.

As long as student-athletes, staff and administrators refrain from betting on games, gambling on sports like college basketball should be here to stay. It is essential for people to be able to bet on sports, especially those in college because it’s part of the excitement during March Madness time. In the college ranks unlike the professional levels, there are surprises and many underdogs emerge. Anything can happen and people enjoy being able to make wagers on an engaging event like the NCAA tournament. In addition, a record high $228 million was wagered last year on college basketball around March Madness time which is not only good for the economy but good for the growth and popularity of the game. People enjoy the fact that they are able to make picks that can end up hurting them or bringing them glory depending on the outcome.

It is because of this that betting on college sports must continue but with a careful eye on student-athletes and those involved with many of these institutions. They must be able to be educated and held accountable if they are to break the policy and not adhere to the NCAA agreement they sign. It is a privilege to be an NCAA athlete and it does come with sacrifice. However, when your career is on the line and the prestige of your college is in the spotlight, there is no reason to disgrace yourself and your school. As for everyone else, they should also be wary of the kinds of bets placed because you never know what will happen when you risk it all. But for now, March Madness should continue to be fun for all those that can legally bet on it.