[NU Sports] gambling and college athletes (fwd)

[Joe Thiegs]

I think there's almost zero chance of enforcement of an NCAA student-athlete
gambling ban unless the student-athletes participating in the gambling are
openly talking about it.  Even if the gambling student-athlete uses a credit
card, how is that going to get noticed?  Say your name is Michael Robinson.
(Not that Michael Robinson of Penn State would wager on games; I'm just
using his name hypothetically.)  Even if credit card transactions are being
screened for student-athlete names, how many Michael Robinsons are there
besides the PSU quarterback?  Probably a lot, and I doubt there's a great
way to differentiate student-athletes from non-student-athletes.  Plus, I
don't think any of that information would surface without a subpoena or some
other form of legal discovery, and you're not going to get into that in the
first place without a good reason to investigate.  So if gambling
student-athletes keep their mouths shut, no instances of their gambling are
ever likely to come to light.

I have a more basic question, though:  What is it, exactly, that some find
so abhorrent about an athlete betting on a game in which he/she is not
participating?  I'm not talking about placing bets with money students can't
afford to lose (which rules out a lot of student gambling anyway...well, if
not at NU, at a lot of schools).  I'm talking about casual betting of truly
disposable income.  I have to admit that I'm having a hard time coming up
with good reasons to oppose the practice when narrowed to those parameters.
Perhaps the answer--if there is one--lies to some extent in the assumed fact
that student-athlete gambling rarely stays within those parameters.
However, I would feel a little hypocritical condemning a student placing
bets on games in which he/she isn't involved.  I mean, in my one trip to
Vegas so far in my life I spent most of the time in various sports books
(during the opening three days of March Madness a couple of years
ago--absolute Nirvana!), and I placed more than a couple of bets--ranging
from $11 to $44--on a number of college basketball games.  I hope that
doesn't make me a bad person, and I don't think it does.  I'd do it again,
gosh darn it!

-Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of Mike Nolan
Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 3:31 PM
To: Peter C. Warner
Cc: nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] gambling and college athletes (fwd)


> The US gov't got credit card companies to agree (or by law, I'm not 
> sure
> which) a couple of years ago to refuse to deal with the off-shore gambling
> companies.  In order to gamble, one needs to make wire transfers into an
> account with the gambling company.  That account is then made to make
wagers
> and receive winnings.  I assume there is some way to get the money out if
> one wins, but I don't know how it works.

I just checked several online gambling sites, they're all still showing 
VISA, Mastercard and American Express icons or indicating that they accept
those credit cards to fund your account.

Even with a wire transfer there's still a paper trail.
--
Mike Nolan

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