No March Madness gambling profits for student athletes
By Michael Weisman, Senior Sports Writer
April 3, 2007 | 1:47 p.m.
March is back. For sports fans alike, it’s the greatest time of the year. Filling out brackets, picking upsets and deciding who will be cutting down the nets when all is said and done is all part of the fun associated with March Madness.
Entering the office pool and placing bets on the brackets has become a March tradition, but for student athletes, coaches and administrators at colleges and universities nationwide, March is a time to beware and to be careful.
“It is a violation of NCAA rules for student athletes, coaches and administrators to participate in bracket contests for monetary gain,” said Rachel Newman-Baker, NCAA director of agents, gambling and amateurism activities. “The NCAA is aware of office pools in excess of $100,000, and the magnitude of the revenue generated could negatively impact the spirit of the sport.”
NCAA rules state that student athletes, athletic department staffs and conference office staffs are forbidden from betting or gambling on any sport at any level that the NCAA sponsors. Statistics show, however, that gambling in college athletics is a problem despite efforts from schools to educate student athletes on the NCAA rules and consequences of breaking the gambling rule. With the Internet’s popularity, it is becoming a tougher task for schools to enforce that rule.
Ohio University Compliance Coordinator Derek Gwinn said the old way of college athletes gambling through a campus bookie isn’t a big problem anymore, especially at Ohio University. The bookies are mostly older townies and boosters, not college students, he said. The Internet has made it extremely easy for athletes to gamble and extremely difficult for Gwinn to monitor. “There are so many ways to bet on a bracket, it’s difficult to check,” he said. “You can go crazy over it.”
Newman-Baker agreed that the Internet has made gambling easier for student athletes to take part. “The Internet has made it easier than ever for student athletes to place bets, providing easy access, virtual anonymity and essentially no supervision,” Newman-Baker said.
Gwinn said he checks Facebook regularly to make sure athletes do not a have a bracket since a monetary award is possible. Web sites such as ESPN.com and Yahoo.com also provide bracket pools online, which give monetary rewards, but are much tougher to monitor since the athlete doesn’t have to use his or her name.
In October 2006, President Bush signed legislation to make it more difficult for Internet casinos to receive money from credit cards and for online sports books to receive money. The NCAA has sent letters to Congress urging them to pass the act. In a 2003 NCAA study, 5.3 percent of male athletes and 2 percent of female athletes admitted to gambling on the Internet.
The Super Bowl is the most common sporting event bet on by college athletes, while brackets and March Madness are a close second, Gwinn said. He oversees athletes and Ohio’s athletic program to make sure they follow NCAA rules, including athletes keeping their amateur status by not gambling on sports.
“Gambling is a big piece, a big effort of what we do, especially since in recent years, point shaving has come up nationally,” Gwinn said. As part of the Ohio athletic department, Gwinn said he can only fill out a bracket for fun, but cannot place any money in a pool or earn any money from a bracket.
NCAA and universities try to educate athletes
Both Ohio University and the NCAA are taking steps to educate athletes on the rules against gambling and the possible consequences. “We do a lot of educational things to try and keep the word out to our players, coaches and staff,” Gwinn said. He often sends athletes and coaches email reminders, especially this time of year with March Madness happening, that it is illegal for them to wager on brackets, even online such as Facebook.
Gwinn also meets with coaches monthly and athletes twice a year to discuss gambling on sports, among other things. Flyers are posted in locker rooms when events such as the Super Bowl, March Madness and the World Series are happening, reminding athletes not to gamble on them. Also, Gwinn had Michael Franzese, a former Mob boss who participated in point-shaving scandals, speak to Ohio’s athletes about the dangers of sports gambling. Franzese now travels the country speaking on the topic and has spoken at over 35 colleges.
The NCAA also takes steps to prevent athletes from wagering on sports. Newman-Baker said they provide campus compliance officers, such as Gwinn, with sports-wagering education resources. The NCAA also developed a Web site titled “Don’t Bet on It,” which guides athletes (and anyone else) through the NCAA’s rules on sports wagering. The organization also conducts background checks on officials and umpires at Division I championship tournaments, as well as makes presentations to male and female athletes in the NCAA basketball tournament.
Is it education enough?
Even with the education student athletes receive on gambling, the problem of athletes gambling may be attributed to student athletes still not understanding the rules. The 2003 NCAA study found that fewer than 50 percent of NCAA athletes said they knew the NCAA rules on sports gambling.
The study did confirm that college athletes are betting on sports. Of 388 men’s college basketball players surveyed, 17 said they either took money to play poorly, knew someone who took money, or provided inside information to someone. Of 2,000 football players surveyed, 102 agreed with the 17 basketball players.
The study also reported 35 percent of male athletes and 10 percent of female athletes gambled on some sporting event, which is illegal by NCAA rules. Also, 20 percent of male athletes and 5 percent of female athletes admitted to gambling on a college sport. Golf, lacrosse and wrestling produced the most athletes who gamble on college sports for men, while golf, lacrosse and basketball produced the most for women. Cross country and track had the fewest gambling athletes for both men and women.
Over 90 percent of the athletes who gamble said they do it for fun, while only 60 percent said they do it to make money. Regardless of whether athletes gamble for profit, Newman-Baker said it needs to stop. “The NCAA opposes all forms of legal and illegal sports wagering on college athletics,” she said. “Sports wagering has become a serious problem that threatens the well-being of the student athlete and the integrity of college sports.”
Gwinn said he has not had any incidents of sports wagering at Ohio University and hasn’t heard of any nationally as of late. The last major incident, he said, was former University of Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel, who entered an office pool for March Madness in 2003 and was later fired when it was discovered he participated in the pool.
Consequences of breaking the NCAA’s no sports wagering rule can result in harsh punishment. “An athlete can be suspended a certain number of games or for a whole season,” Gwinn said. Ohio University self-imposes penalties on its athletes if an NCAA rule is broken, Gwinn said, but the NCAA can review the case and recommend a different punishment if it’s unsatisfied with the self-imposed penalty.
However, Newman-Baker said any athlete involved in illegal sports wagering would be ineligible for all regular-season and postseason games for at least one year. “When student athletes gamble, they break the law and jeopardize their eligibility,” she said. “The NCAA wants to send a clear message that money does not have to be involved in order for the NCAA basketball tournament or other sporting contests to be fun.”
Newman-Baker agreed that money is not necessary for sports championships to be fun. “Sports competition should be appreciated for the inherent benefits related to participation of student athletes, coaches and institutions in fair contests, not the amount of money wagered on the outcome of the competition,” she said.