[NU Sports] gambling and college athletes (fwd)

[John Labbe]

Are you kidding me?  Betting on a sport in which you participate is verboten.  Ever heard of Pete Rose?  True, I think he bet on his own team (to win, never to lose), but he also bet on lots of other baseball teams, and it's prohibited regardless of which teams he bet on.

This rule has to do with a lot of things.  Mainly, I think it has to do with avoiding the appearance of impropriety and upholding the integrity of the institution.  Can you imagine how much it would degrade college sports if players were betting on each other all the time?  If they were trying to get inside information on other teams to place bets?  If it appeared that they were placing bets for friends on other teams or possibly throwing games?  I can't imagine what that would look like.  The same thing goes for professional sports for players in the same league.

Betting on college sports by everyone else is OK, so I don't think you're a bad person, although I've always thought it was a little odd, and I personally wouldn't approve except in moderation.  It's a sad thing, in my opinion, to see people mad at college athletes because they lost money on a game.

On Tuesday, October 25, 2005, at 05:21PM, Joe Thiegs <thiegs at umn.edu> wrote:

>
>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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