Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Tuesday 18 sepTember 2018
A25

Easier gambling has sports worried about fighting the fix

By DAVID PORTER years of age?" asked Min-
REGINA GARCIA-CANO nesota athletic director
Associated Press Bob Vecchione, head of
OCEANPORT, N.J. (AP) — the National Association of
With dozens of states rush- College Directors of Athlet-
ing to offer legal sports ics. "When people told you
gambling in the wake of something, how much did
this spring's landmark U.S. it sink in? That's what causes
Supreme Court' ruling, will some sleepless nights."
fixed games — or parts of With inside information
games — become more heavily sought in gambling,
common? any tidbit — say, a student
The four major pro sports telling friends that his room-
leagues and the NCAA mate, the star quarter-
have argued for years in back, just had a fight with
court that expanding le- his girlfriend — can take on
gal betting will lead to greater significance, high-
more game-fixing. The pro lighting the need for more
leagues have sought, un- education, Rutgers athletic
successfully so far, to get a director Patrick Hobbs said.
cut of state gambling rev- "We'll educate on a variety
enues to increase monitor- of scenarios and hypotheti-
ing. Democratic U.S. Sen. cals, and say, 'Hey look, this
Chuck Schumer of New In this June 28, 2018, file photo, a sign advertising sports betting is displayed at Ocean Resort Ca- may have sounded like an
York recently proposed leg- sino in Atlantic City, N.J. innocent question in the
islation establishing federal Associated Press past, but now you have to
guidelines aimed at "pro- be careful with that infor-
tecting the integrity of the panel found "betting-relat- bigger pool for more kids, 2016 NCAA survey of more mation,'" Hobbs said.
game" as well as protect- ed corruption and other and for more money to get than 22,000 college ath- In the Arizona State hoops
ing bettors. breaches of integrity have involved," said Jamall An- letes found nearly one- case, Las Vegas bookmak-
Supporters of legal sports taken firm root" in the sport. derson, a running back on quarter of male athletes ers reported suspicious bet-
betting say that bringing It cited a decision several the 1996 Boston College violated NCAA rules by ting activity when gamblers
an already popular illegal years ago by pro tours to football team whose play- gambling money on sports wagered about $900,000
activity out of the shadows sell live scoring data, which ers were found to have bet in the previous year. against Arizona State in
will make it easier to detect allowed sports books to of- against their own team. "It's And of the male athletes an early season contest
illegal activity. They point to fer in-game wagering. Dur- really going to create a big who had gambled on against Washington. The
the Arizona State basket- ing this month's U.S. Open mess, I think." sports, 13 percent had wa- heavy action caused sports
ball point-shaving scandal in New York, bettors were Anderson recounted his ex- gered on specific game sit- books to change Arizona
in the late 1990s, uncov- able to wager on who periences in a 2016 book, uations with in-game bets. State from a 10½-point fa-
ered after legal bookmak- would win a specific point, "The Best Bet." In an inter- NCAA rules prohibit ath- vorite to a 3-point favorite.
ers in Las Vegas noticed match or set. view, he described a cul- letes, coaches and other "You might write $30,000 or
unusually large sums wa- In the four months since the ture in which gambling was athletic employees from $40,000 total on both sides
gered on Sun Devils games. report was issued, several part of the daily routine. gambling on sports, and in- of that game under normal
Six people, including two men's players have been "You went to practice and dividual schools sometimes conditions," Jimmy Vac-
players, pleaded guilty to suspended, two for life, you got your spreadsheet bring in law enforcement caro, then-sports book di-
crimes including conspira- and authorities in Belgium in the locker room," he said. officials or former players to rector at Mirage Resorts, re-
cy and sports bribery. detained more than a doz- "It was nothing to sit there help them understand the cently told The Associated
Legal sports betting has en people on suspicion of on the sidelines and say, rules. Press. "We wrote $560,000
been part of the landscape match-fixing as part of a 'Who you got this week?' Will it be enough as laws on that game. The people
for years outside the United criminal probe dating back That's what you do." change? thought the fix was in and
States, as have gambling- to 2015. College athletes aren't "Do you remember back ended up blowing their
related scandals. The uncovering of illegal strangers to wagering: A when you were 18 to 20 money."q
Soccer, by far the most activity shows that legal
widely bet sport world- betting safeguards are
wide, has confronted wide- working, said Joe Asher,
spread match-fixing scan- CEO of London-based
dals often orchestrated by bookmaker William Hill.
organized crime groups. "The illegal bookie isn't pick-
FIFA, the sport's world gov- ing up the phone and call-
erning body, estimated in ing the FBI, he's just going
2013 that organized crime to try to get on the same
was taking in as much as side of the bet," Asher said.
$15 billion a year by fixing "That's the difference be-
matches. tween the black market
Perhaps equally as sus- and the legal market that
ceptible to fixing is tennis, exists today."
with thousands of matches Still, the prospect of easy,
played annually at out-of- legal access to sports gam-
the-way venues featuring bling for everyone, athletes
players on the sport's lower included, has many con-
rungs. A report published cerned.
in April by an independent "They're going to create a