> Point-shaving scandals have been a recurring feature of college basketball
> since two City College of New York players were arrested in 1951
> on charges of conspiracy.
The number is 33 players from the 1950 season and obviously, not all from CCNY. A little research might help your perspective?
> since two City College of New York players were arrested in 1951
> on charges of conspiracy.
The number is 33 players from the 1950 season and obviously, not all from CCNY. A little research might help your perspective?
Michjas, you are wrong. Horse racing would not be analyzed first and foremost. Horse racing wagers are very small when compared to the handle for sports betting. Walk into a sportsbook in Vegas. More and more room is dedicated to sports and less and less to horse racing. It's not even close.
Don't stop at sports betting. Online poker needs to be legalized (and taxed) too.
1
Gambling on sports is already legal in Nevada and England. Yes, some plays are suspicious, but as for paying a major league catcher to commit a passed ball at just the right time to lose the game, what if the game is one-sided and the chance never comes up? You just eat the payoff money and lose your bets on top of it? And speaking of payoff money, the 1919 White Sox were offered what amounted to a year's salary to blow the series. Who can come up with the equivalent $80M it would take to pay off eight guys on a team today? How much money would the gamblers need to make to cover these payouts, where would they find the players willing to risk losing their careers and even prison to do it, and where on earth would they put these bets down? Nobody in the betting world, legal or illegal, would take such bets under any circumstances.
2
Imagine picking a jury in a hypothetical case if betting on sports was legal where say the quarterback on a super bowl bound team is accused of tampering with the air pressure of the footballs and gambling on the super was legal?
If sports betting was legalized the criminal justice system would jump all over it like an end zone fumble. The US Attorney for the Southern District would set up a special bureau to analyze every upset. Mike Fransesca would become a de facto law expert.
Every passed ball will be questioned if it leads to the winning run.
Every missed free throw will be replayed a thousand times if the missed point was the difference on the bet.
Every missed field goal the same would occur.
However, to balance the equation if sports betting were to become legal then maybe the folks who are denying Charlie Hustle his rightful spot in the Hall of Fame will be shamed into installing him in the hall while he is still alive. You can book it!
If sports betting was legalized the criminal justice system would jump all over it like an end zone fumble. The US Attorney for the Southern District would set up a special bureau to analyze every upset. Mike Fransesca would become a de facto law expert.
Every passed ball will be questioned if it leads to the winning run.
Every missed free throw will be replayed a thousand times if the missed point was the difference on the bet.
Every missed field goal the same would occur.
However, to balance the equation if sports betting were to become legal then maybe the folks who are denying Charlie Hustle his rightful spot in the Hall of Fame will be shamed into installing him in the hall while he is still alive. You can book it!
2
There is hundreds of billions of dollars already spent on sports betting through illegal means in this country (probably 100x what is bet legally in NV sports books.)
1. Do you not think that anyone who wishes to places a bet on a game is not doing so already?
2. Do you not think those people are already questioning passed balls leading to the winning run? missed free throws that impact the spread? missed field goals? Tune into espn or your local sports mouth on the radio - they're talking about it every Monday after an nfl Sunday.
1. Do you not think that anyone who wishes to places a bet on a game is not doing so already?
2. Do you not think those people are already questioning passed balls leading to the winning run? missed free throws that impact the spread? missed field goals? Tune into espn or your local sports mouth on the radio - they're talking about it every Monday after an nfl Sunday.
1
Sure is working for marijuanna and narcotics and alcohol and gambling. Still, less likely babies will be left in hot cars while daddy and mommy "just stop into a casino for Minute." Right.
9/10s of Americans have grown up on sports betting based on video games. They will never be able to detect thrown games.
Why the NFL is promoting more revenue.
9/10s of Americans have grown up on sports betting based on video games. They will never be able to detect thrown games.
Why the NFL is promoting more revenue.
Chris, not sure what you are getting at in your disjointed comment, but can tell you that it doesn't matter if the average American can "detect thrown games." The legal sports books can, and have an incentive to do so - rigged games are bad for business.
I do not believe this is an either / or scenario. Football betting is legal in much of Europe and yet there was the scandal mentioned in the article. Tennis betting is legal in many places worldwide and yet the sport has been tainted by thrown matches. Horse racing has had plenty of examples of fixing (that we know about) around the globe. Making sports gambling legal just moves the line of how the illegality will take place.
"Making sports gambling legal just moves the line of how the illegality will take place."
Not sure how this works, since just about everyone who wishes to make a bet in this country is doing so already. The problem is they are doing it with illegal bookmakers (i.e., mobsters), and shady off-shore internet sites. Who is monitoring these people? Answer: no one. Bring the action into legal books where it can be monitored - or are the leagues afraid of what the legal sports books would find?
Yes, there have been match-fixing scandals in Europe - which have been discovered through LEGAL bookmakers detecting abnormal betting patterns.
If those fixes were taking place in this country, there is a good chance we would not know about it. The BC shaving scandal would never had been found out if the mobsters involved hadn't had such big mouths.
Not sure how this works, since just about everyone who wishes to make a bet in this country is doing so already. The problem is they are doing it with illegal bookmakers (i.e., mobsters), and shady off-shore internet sites. Who is monitoring these people? Answer: no one. Bring the action into legal books where it can be monitored - or are the leagues afraid of what the legal sports books would find?
Yes, there have been match-fixing scandals in Europe - which have been discovered through LEGAL bookmakers detecting abnormal betting patterns.
If those fixes were taking place in this country, there is a good chance we would not know about it. The BC shaving scandal would never had been found out if the mobsters involved hadn't had such big mouths.
1. Thank you for your explanation of the spread, which is well known to most 13 year olds. The paragraphs devoted to the subject gave me the chance to check my email.
2. The Donaghy case was not even close to the most lurid. He was an anonymous ref. Pete Rose's gambling has repeatedly been front page news. That's what lurid is all about.
3. Somebody needs to stay away from cambios. 2 million euros haven't been worth $3 million in years. At the present exchange rate, they're worth about $2.25 million. Maybe, you were accounting for the vig.
4. The studies you cite are eurocentric. Anyone analyzing betting patterns in the U.S. would analyze horse racing, first and foremost.
5. While you hint at the key to the NBA issue, you should have treated it front and center. Any player in a position to determine the spread makes about $10 million/year. On Golden State, as many as 6 players could pull it off. Those 6 could get $5 million each if the Warriors win it all in addition to any contract incentives and sponsorship money. Getting one of the six to shave points would be a costly enterprise. While there are no limits to human greed, any bookie would need to check his books before deciding that the necessary payoff would be a good investment.
2. The Donaghy case was not even close to the most lurid. He was an anonymous ref. Pete Rose's gambling has repeatedly been front page news. That's what lurid is all about.
3. Somebody needs to stay away from cambios. 2 million euros haven't been worth $3 million in years. At the present exchange rate, they're worth about $2.25 million. Maybe, you were accounting for the vig.
4. The studies you cite are eurocentric. Anyone analyzing betting patterns in the U.S. would analyze horse racing, first and foremost.
5. While you hint at the key to the NBA issue, you should have treated it front and center. Any player in a position to determine the spread makes about $10 million/year. On Golden State, as many as 6 players could pull it off. Those 6 could get $5 million each if the Warriors win it all in addition to any contract incentives and sponsorship money. Getting one of the six to shave points would be a costly enterprise. While there are no limits to human greed, any bookie would need to check his books before deciding that the necessary payoff would be a good investment.
As history has already shown(and highlighted in the column), when it comes to gambling and fixing a game in the NBA, it is not the players one has to worry about, it is the referees. Calling fouls is extremely subjective and without any real consistency in the league and it could be easily done without expecting anything clandestine. Also it has been highlighted for years now that foul calls in the NBA heavily favor the stars of the game usually resulting in less fouls called against them and more calls in the stars favor. Call a phantom foul when the game is close and point spreads are critical along with a key player fouling out? Easy. In all my years of watching basketball, I still haven't figured out what exactly a foul is and when and when there is a playback of it, more than ever I am hearing announcers questioning the referees, sometimes "phantom" calls, yet, unlike other elements in the game, they are not subject to review. It makes you wonder.
1
1. Actually, tune into espn, and you will see that there are only about two people on that entire math-challenged, common-sense-bereft network that understand the concept of point spreads, and why they exist.
2. The Donaghy case was more lurid, the nba was just better at covering it up. You had a referee manipulating games (which matches other TV analysts independent commentary on said games - Lakers/Kings Game 6 anyone?), plus giving us the playbook of how the nba manipulated series thru referee assignment and instruction. There is no evidence that Pete Rose's wagering, while against the rules, impacted the result of any game (and, I'm sure journalists have been over those games with a fine-toothed comb).
4. There is plenty of data to look at in the US ... e.g., I cited the ASU point-shaving scandal of 1995 where the books blew the whistle.
5. See point #2 ... while you're right that it would be impossible to get multi-millionaires to take a dive, it would be much easier to pay-off a referee.
2. The Donaghy case was more lurid, the nba was just better at covering it up. You had a referee manipulating games (which matches other TV analysts independent commentary on said games - Lakers/Kings Game 6 anyone?), plus giving us the playbook of how the nba manipulated series thru referee assignment and instruction. There is no evidence that Pete Rose's wagering, while against the rules, impacted the result of any game (and, I'm sure journalists have been over those games with a fine-toothed comb).
4. There is plenty of data to look at in the US ... e.g., I cited the ASU point-shaving scandal of 1995 where the books blew the whistle.
5. See point #2 ... while you're right that it would be impossible to get multi-millionaires to take a dive, it would be much easier to pay-off a referee.
Great article, should be required reading for the disingenuous commissioners of the nfl. nhl, ncaa and mlb, and their paid-off judges who strike down valid, constitutional state laws. Would love to see how they would lie to refute the points it makes.
The only disappointing note was the last paragraph, which seems to be there only to offer the illusion of balance while serving up the same nonsensical tropes the sports leagues spout. Not fact-based ... just empty, regurgitated taking points from someone who clearly does not know what she is talking about.
First, I think we all agree that people are going to gamble. so the question is: would you rather this activity be managed by criminal enterprises/shady off-shore internet sites, or managed by regulated corporations - who have a vested interest in fair competition - overseen by gov't?
Second, what does "...this all presupposes that greed has an upper bound," even mean? Greed has no bounds, even more reason why you need more eyes on the games, which is what legal, regulated bookmakers provide.
If you don't believe me, google the 1995 Arizona State point-shaving scandal in basketball, and how the sports books of Las Vegas were the ones who tipped off the authorities that something was amiss.
The only disappointing note was the last paragraph, which seems to be there only to offer the illusion of balance while serving up the same nonsensical tropes the sports leagues spout. Not fact-based ... just empty, regurgitated taking points from someone who clearly does not know what she is talking about.
First, I think we all agree that people are going to gamble. so the question is: would you rather this activity be managed by criminal enterprises/shady off-shore internet sites, or managed by regulated corporations - who have a vested interest in fair competition - overseen by gov't?
Second, what does "...this all presupposes that greed has an upper bound," even mean? Greed has no bounds, even more reason why you need more eyes on the games, which is what legal, regulated bookmakers provide.
If you don't believe me, google the 1995 Arizona State point-shaving scandal in basketball, and how the sports books of Las Vegas were the ones who tipped off the authorities that something was amiss.
3
Match fixing in Europe is nearly always tied to betting in Asia, where online gambling is not regulated. As Mr McGugan says, licensed bookmakers -- that is, the ones operating legally in Europe -- have a powerful incentive to expose suspicious betting patterns.
Yes there is a problem with soccer game fixing in lower levels, especially in Eastern Europe. But players in these leagues often have problems with paychecks that are late or never arrive at all. That is a powerful incentive to find other sources of income.
I do not think that is a problem in the NBA.
People who think keeping sports betting illegal is helping keep sports clean are fooling themselves.