The NCAA picked a hell of a week to go into gambling businessisn't it?
Within 24 hours of approval of a rule change that will allow student-athletes and athletic department staff to bet only on professional sports, FBI arrested more than 30 people in connection with a large gambling and sports betting scheme. The level of complexity alleged in one 22-page indictment is reminiscent of a Scorsese script that allegedly involves four New York mob families, a current NBA player and a head coach.
For Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, the news and arrests were a PR nightmare.
But it's a warning to the NCAA.
Since the 2018 Supreme Court ruling paved the way for sports betting, more than 35 states have legalized it, so I can see why the industry no longer feels dirty. But the governing body of more than half a million young athletes must remember that nothing will ever clean up the industry.
One hundred years ago, the Black Sox scandal nearly destroyed baseball in America. Fast forward a hundred years and we learn that 16 professional tennis players, including the US Open champion, were fixed matches for gambling syndicates in Russia and Italy. Meanwhile, Pete “Charlie Hustle” Rose was banned for life for betting on baseball games as a coach, and Tim Donaghy, an NBA umpire, was arrested for betting on games. Last year, former NBA player Jontay Porter was found to have made multiple bets on games using another person's account. We call him “former” because the league banned him for life.
So, if NCAA officials think it's too difficult to enforce the current gambling ban (it's investigating multiple violations at multiple schools), imagine what life inside the organization would be like without any deterrents.
In fact, no imagination is required. Just read the indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The FBI says the gambling scheme began in 2019, operated in 11 states, and involved crime families dating back more than a century.
Hidden cameras, programmable card shuffling machines and X-ray tables were among the technology used to steal tens of millions of dollars from victims during fraudulent poker games, documents show. Those allegedly involved in the scheme included Hall of Fame player and head coach of the Portland Trailblazers, Chauncey Billups. Authorities said Billups, who led the Detroit Pistons to the 2004 championship, used his fame to lure victims. Additionally, the FBI reported that Damon Jones, a former Lakers player and assistant coach, shared inside information about LeBron James' health with better players as far back as 2023. Terry Rozier, a current NBA player under a $100 million contract, was also arrested.
Now consider this: There are approximately 40,000 young men and women playing NCAA basketball, and approximately 8,000 executives and assistant coaches for top teams. How confident are you that March Madness won't take on a different meaning if coaches and players are allowed to bet on games and end up underwater? Recent UC San Diego study found that online searches seeking help for gambling addiction increased by 23% between 2018 and June 2024.
And while it's true that the new rule maintains a ban on student athletes and coaches betting on college sports (so there is some disincentive against fixing games), skewed results are only one possible harm from gambling. The International Tennis Federation found that angry players were to blame. 40% of attacks on social networks targets players, and several threats are credible enough to be passed on to the FBI. And there is already evidence that college students who are not athletes using student loan money to place betsAnd 2023 NCAA poll found that 14% of Americans aged 18 to 22 place bets at least several times a week.
Another 16% use the services of a bookmaker.
I repeat: bookmaker.
It just feels like a tragedy that we all see.
And are we supposed to trust that the NCAA will be willing to protect student-athletes from predators when the mafia is said to be using professional athletes and X-ray machines to steal from card players who are supposed to know better? The human brain's decision-making process is not fully developed until a person is 25 years old, and the NCAA just voted to allow 18-year-olds with “name, image, likeness” money to dive into deep water with the sharks.
Given what just happened in the NBA this week, the responsible step is for the NCAA to pause the rule change that is set to go into effect on November 1 and reassess the risks. It's one thing for sports gambling to cost a professional athlete his career. It would be worse if addiction or debt stole a young person's future before it even began.
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