Sports Gambling - The Effects Of Illegal Sports Gambling On Society

Money and Crime

Because the vast majority of sports gambling that occurs in this country is illegal, it is difficult to determine its economic effects. However, the only people certainly benefiting from illegal sports gambling are the bookmakers. Large bookmaking operations overseen by organized crime groups take in billions of dollars each year. The betting stakes are high and the consequences for nonpayment can be violent. Small independent bookies typically operate as entrepreneurs, taking bets only from local people they know well. Illegal bookmaking cases reported in the media range from multi-million dollar enterprises to small operations run by one person.

In 2004 five people were arrested for running a massive bookmaking operation in Chicago. The illegal business made profits of $3 million between 1999 and 2002. Prosecutors allege that Joseph "The Pooch" Pascucci and his accomplices took bets on football, basketball, and baseball games. They were also charged with income tax evasion. In June 2004 Pascucci pleaded guilty in federal court and could be sentenced to up to fifty-one years in prison.

In late 2003 police in the small town of West Newport, California, arrested a bartender at a popular restaurant for operating a small illegal bookmaking operation. The man was allegedly taking bets on sporting events. Undercover agents reported making bets at the bar and receiving payouts of several thousand dollars. Authorities believe the bookie was acting alone without the knowledge of restaurant managers.

College Students

The extreme popularity of sports gambling has to do in large part with the perception that it is a skills-based risk-taking activity. This type of activity appeals to men in general and young men in particular. Because of the high concentration of young men on college campuses, sports gambling is believed to be very prevalent among college students. The issue first came to light in 1992 in a New York Times article titled "Newest Concern for Colleges: Increases in Sports Gambling." In this article the director of Harvard University's Center of Addiction predicted that "we will face in the next decade or so more problems with youth gambling than we'll face with drug use."

In April 1995 Sports Illustrated magazine published a three-part report on sports gambling on college campuses. The first installment, titled "Bettor Education," reported that collegiate gambling was rampant and estimated that nearly one-fourth of college students gamble at least once a week. Reporters visited campuses around the country and found sophisticated bookmaking operations with large numbers of students, mostly men, as clients. These young men shared some common traits: an obsession with sports, a social network in which gambling was acceptable and supported by peer pressure (such as a fraternity house), access to money, intelligence, and naive illusions about what they were actually doing.

The report found instances of athletes jeopardizing their athletic futures by betting on games, as well as students betting above their means and getting into serious debt. Some students ultimately went to the police or their parents when they got in too deep. However, parents tended to treat the problem lightly—much less seriously than other concerns, such as drug use.

Several academic studies examining illegal sports gambling by college students were published during the late 1990s and early 2000s. These included "Prevalence and Risk Factors of Problem Gambling among College Students," in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (1998), "Sports Betting by College Students: Who Bets and How Often?" in College Student Journal (1998), "The Extent and Nature of Gambling among College Student Athletes" published by the University of Michigan Department of Athletics in 1999, and "Gambling, Its Effect and Prevalence on College Campuses: Implications for Student Affairs" by the NASPA Center of Student Studies and Demographics (2002). The studies noted that thriving sports books operated by college students had been discovered by authorities in Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Texas.

Sports Tampering

Sports tampering is officially defined by the U.S. Criminal Code as follows: "To unlawfully alter, meddle in, or otherwise interfere with a sporting contest or event for the purpose of gaining a gambling advantage." The most common form of sports tampering is called point shaving. Point shaving occurs when a player deliberately limits the number of points scored by his or her team in exchange for payment of some sort—for example, if a basketball player purposely misses a free throw shot in exchange for a fee.

There have been some famous sports scandals involving gambling, mostly in college basketball games. However, any link between an athlete and gambling gives rise to suspicions about the integrity of the games in which that athlete participates.

The professional baseball player Pete Rose is an excellent example. On September 11, 1985, at Riverfront

TABLE 8.9

Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, Rose broke Ty Cobb's all-time hit record. Before the end of the decade, however, Rose was under investigation by the commissioner of Major League Baseball and by federal prosecutors for betting on sporting events and associating with known bookies. He agreed to leave baseball, and the case was dropped. At the time Rose denied ever betting on baseball games. However, in January 2004 he admitted that he had bet on baseball games while he managed the Cincinnati Reds team during the late 1980s. His misdeeds mean that he can not be eligible for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

THE INTEGRITY OF COLLEGE SPORTS. The widespread popularity of sports gambling among college students also leads to suspicions that athletes, coaches, and officials associated with collegiate sports could be wagering on the very games in which they are participating.

A study titled "Gambling with the Integrity of College Sports" was conducted at the University of Michigan in March 2000. Researchers found that 84% of college referees polled admitted they had gambled at some point during their careers. Nearly 40% had bet on sporting events, and 20% had bet on the NCAA basketball tournament. Two of the referees even admitted that the published point spread on games they were officiating affected the manner in which they officiated those games.

Several gambling-related scandals involving college athletes and coaches were publicized in the media during the early 2000s. These included University of Washington football coach Rich Neuheisel, University of Michigan basketball player Chris Webber, Florida State quarterback Adrian McPherson, and University of Florida basketball player Teddy Dupay.

TABLE 8.10

In May 2004 the extent of gambling among college athletes was examined in "Pushing the Limits: Gambling among NCAA Athletes," in The WAGER. The WAGER is published by the Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling. The article summarized the findings from two major studies: the NCAA's "Executive Summary for the National Study on Collegiate Sports Wagering and Associated Health Risks" and Harvard School of Public Health's "Correlates of College Student Gambling in the United States," published in the Journal of American College Health in 2003.

Table 8.9 compares the findings of the studies regarding gambling prevalence among student athletes. The NCAA study reports gambling activities reported by students during the previous twelve months. The other study asked students about gambling participation during the current school year. The results indicate that approximately one quarter of the male student athletes had gambled on college sporting events.

The NCAA opposes both legal and illegal sports gambling in the United States. Bylaw 10.3 of the NCAA prohibits staff members and student athletes from engaging in gambling activities related to college and professional sporting events. It also forbids them from providing any information about collegiate sports events to persons involved in organized gambling activities.

The NCAA opposes illegal sports gambling for the following reasons:

• It attracts organized crime.
• The profits fund other illegal activities, such as drug sales and loan-sharking.
• Student athletes who become involved can become indebted to bookies, leading to point shaving schemes.

Table 8.10 is an NCAA summary of the potential risks of illegal sports betting and ways for college athletes to avoid that temptation.