The NCAAs Perspective On Sports Gambling Essay

, Research Paper

The NCAA prohibits the part

icipation of legal or illegal sports gambling because of its ability to damage the integrity of sports contests and jeopardize the welfare of the student-athlete as well as his or her athletic community. The NCAA has had specific legislation prohibiting athletic department staff members, conference office staff, and student-athletes from participating in sports gambling activities as they relate to intercollegiate or professional sporting events. The purpose of this paper is to better understand the severity of sports gambling.

The NCAA is well aware of the threat that sports gambling gives to the integrity of each intercollegiate contest. In the late 1940?s, the academic community and public were surprised to learn that the City College of New York basketball team was involved in a point shaving scandal. Within just the last ten months, point shaving scandals occurred on the campuses of Arizona Southern University and Northwestern University. According to federal law enforcement officials, more money was bet on the Arizona State game more than on any point shaving scam in the history of intercollegiate athletics.

Kenneth Dion Lee and Dewey Williams of Northwestern were served with arrest summons for allegedly shaving points. As starting seniors on Northwestern?s 1994-95 team, Lee and Williams allegedly conspired with two gamblers placing thousands of dollars in wagers to alter their play so that their opponents would cover the point spread.

In 1995, four Maryland football players and one men?s basketball player were found to have bet on collegiate sporting events. Two years ago thirteen football players at Boston College were involved in sports gambling activities, four admitted to betting against their own team. Just last year a basketball player at Cal-State Fullerton was approached by a student after practice and offered one thousand dollars per game to shave some points. These are just a few examples of sports gambling incidents.

College student-athletes need to be aware of the impact sports gambling can have on them. They could be expelled from college, lose athletic scholarships, and jeopardize any hope of a career in professional athletics. Environmental factors are said to be playing an influential role in Student-athletic gambling. One of Boston College?s football players involved in the school betting scandal stated ?the attitude was: It?s just part of the college experience. To tell the you the truth, it never crossed my mind that it was illegal; it?s just common.? One of the athletes involved in the Northwestern University point shaving scandal admitted that gambling had been a part of his life ever since he was a youngster.

The evidence of the growth of gambling on College campuses is no secret. Recently, the University of Cincinnati and the NCAA sponsored study randomly surveyed 2,000 male student-athletes in Division I basketball and football programs to assess the intent of NCAA rules violations. This survey disclosed that over twenty-five percent of the athletes reported gambling on college sporting events other than their own while in college. Four percent of the athletes admitted to wagering on games in which they had played. Three of the athletes admitted to changing the outcome of the game they played.

Illegal sports gambling is defined as the placing of bets on professional and college events in every state except Nevada. There is an explosion of illegal sports gambling on just about every college campus in the nation. The NCAA investigations continue to unleash these huge bookie operations that involve student-athletes.

Legal sports gambling takes place in Nevada where the bookmakers are handling millions of dollars everyday. The 1998 NCAA men?s basketball tournament saw approximately $80 million wagered with Nevada bookmakers. This was more than the 1998 Super Bowl which was $78 million. All sixty-four teams that competed in this year?s NCAA tournament were required to view an anti-gambling video before playing. This notion probably decreased some of the gambling that took place during the tournament.

Pete Rose, a former baseball player for the Cincinnati Reds, deserves to be in the Hall of Fame but is questionable due to his gambling compulsion. Rose?s gambling compulsion led to violate the cardinal rule, which is not to bet on baseball games. I think Pete Rose?s situation is enough reason for me not to bet on athletic events and should hope that it would influence other student-athletes as well. This paper really made me realize that illegal sports gambling is definitely not worth the penalties that go along with it.