[NU Sports] gambling and college athletes (fwd)

[Jeff Beamsley]

Jonathan wrote <snip>

I don't see anything wrong with it as entertainment (although I personally
see better things to do with my money), although it seems to be out of
control on unregulated web sites that are run in another country.  Of
course, the NCAA or any particular university doesn't and shouldn't have the
power to investigate every student's transactions, and I don't think
policing the matter would do any good.  In terms of athletes, they really
shouldn't be treated any differently than any other student as long as they
aren't affecting the outcome of games that they put money on.  Of course,
this is difficult to discover as well since the NCAA doesn't have the
resources of a law enforcement organization.

I personally think the NCAA, conferences, and member institutions should be
creating programs to help those with gambling problems and working at the
root cause instead of just policing and punishing those who get caught.  The
big gamblers and the ones whoe have the biggest problems know how to avoid
getting caught.

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The issue isn't gambling as entertainment.  The issue is athletes (college
or otherwise) betting on the outcome of their own games.  That's where the
NCAA and every other body governing sport has a responsibility to get
involved.  It is their job to make sure that the games they sanction meet a
particular standard of fairness and transparency.  The alternative is the
world of pseudo-sports like WWF and NASCAR (just kidding).  

The easiest thing to do, as the NCAA has done, is to say that you just can't
place sports bets and expect to participate in NCAA sanctioned events.  Just
like you can't take performance enhancing drugs or skip school.  

Beyond that, I agree that the NCAA should be just as proactive in helping
students and coaches deal with the issues of gambling addiction as they are
in helping them deal with all of the other special pressures of being (or
coaching) a student athlete.

Jeff