GAMBLING with the Future of College Sports - legislation to prevent gambling on college sports - Statistical Data Included

NOTHING BEATS an October Saturday afternoon at the Los Angeles County Coliseum watching my beloved University of Southern California football team taking it to the likes of the University of Notre Dame or UCLA. Even though Trojan victories have been somewhat scarce of late, I still try mightily to arrange my schedule each fall to be in the Coliseum's sun-soaked stands for at least one game.

Tens of millions of other Americans share my passion for college football. We marvel at the talent, teamwork, determination, and strategy poured into those three- or four-hour battles, and we walk away, win or lose, entertained by the experience. Yet, this treasured pastime is imperiled. A toxic threat looms over the entire collegiate athletic landscape. That threat is gambling.

For two years, I served on the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. In June, 1999, my eight colleagues and I authored a final report replete with more than 70 recommendations to Congress and state and tribal governments. It was during the commission's proceedings that I awakened to the tremendous dangers posed by gambling on collegiate sports. In our final report, we concluded: "Sports wagering threatens the integrity of sports, it puts student-athletes in a vulnerable position, it can serve as a gateway behavior for adolescent gamblers, and it can devastate individuals and careers."

That is why I authored a recommendation, subsequently approved by the commission, to ban gambling on collegiate and amateur athletic events. That recommendation became the basis for Congressional legislation, spear-headed by Sens. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) and Sam Brownback (R.-Kan.) and Reps. Tim Roemer (D.-Ind.) and Lindsey Graham (R.S.C.).

This long-overdue legislation would close the "Nevada loophole" left open by he Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, passed by Congress in 1992. That bill made it illegal in 49 states to gamble on college sporting events, with the glaring exception of Nevada. As a result, Nevada casinos now reap close to $1,000,000,000 a year in wagers on college football and basketball games.

This bonanza for Nevada wagering establishments comes at a tremendous price to our colleges and universities--and to the athletes themselves. According to National Collegiate Athletic Association president Cedric Dempsey, "The millions of dollars wagered legally on college sports has resulted in more `point-shaving' and `game-fixing' scandals in the 1990s than the previous five decades combined." Those scandals have ensnared dozens of athletes from some of the nation's most prestigious academic institutions:

* At Northwestern University, 11 student-athletes were convicted in gambling scandals involving the school's athletic teams. Among them were the football team's star tailback, Dennis Lundy, who admitted to intentionally fumbling the ball at the goal line in a 1994 game against the University of Iowa so he could win a bet. Two Northwestern basketball players were convicted of trying to fix three games in exchange for bribes from gamblers.

* Thirteen members of the Boston College football team were suspended for gambling in 1996, including two who bet against the Eagles.

* The all-time leading passer at the University of Maryland, Scott Milanovich, was suspended for four games in 1995 for betting on college sports.

* Arizona State All-America point guard Stevin ("Hedake") Smith sacrificed a promising pro basketball career and ended up in prison after he and a teammate were found guilty of shaving points during the 1993-94 season.

Surveys indicate that gambling is indeed rampant among male college athletes. In 1999, researchers at the University of Michigan surveyed 460 NCAA Division I male football and basketball players. More than 45% admitted to betting on sports, despite NCAA regulations prohibiting such activity. Even more disconcerting, five percent admitted to succumbing to gambling pressures, either by providing inside information to gamblers, betting on a game they participated in, or accepting money for performing poorly. If these results can be generalized--and they very well may understate the problem--approximately four or five players on every Division I college football team and one player on the majority of collegiate basketball teams are being influenced by gambling.

These findings mirror a 1996 study of 650 collegiate football and basketball players conducted by the University of Cincinnati. In that survey, four percent of respondents admitted gambling on games in which they played, while 0.5% confessed to receiving money from a gambler for not playing well.

Players are not the only ones susceptible to gambling pressures. In March, 2000, the University of Michigan released a survey of 640 college sports officials. Forty percent admitted to betting on sports. Twelve said they knew of other officials who had not called a game fairly for gambling reasons.

The rightfully heightened concern about gambling on collegiate sports has cast suspicion on all who are involved. Former Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight fueled the fire in 1999 when, in an ESPN interview, he said, "If we only knew the truth about games that were controlled by officials having 'gambling interests, I think it would be amazing." Media-circulated rumors of gambling scandals surrounding UCLA's 1999 Rose Bowl squad and Louisiana State University's 1998 football team turned out to be groundless.

Clearly, a problem exists. That is why the pending legislation in Congress has the strong support of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, university presidents, and athletic directors. A veritable "who's who" of college coaches signed a letter to Congress urging passage of the bill. Among the more than 60 signatories were basketball coaches Mike Krzyzewski (Duke University), Tubby Smith (University of Kentucky), and Roy Williams (University of Kansas), as well as football coaches Bobby Bowden (Florida State University), Joe Paterno (Pennsylvania State University), and Frank Solich (University of Nebraska).

University of South Carolina football coach Lou Holtz, formerly the head coach at Notre Dame, also signed the letter. In 2000, he appeared on my daily radio broadcast to plead for passage of the bill. On that broadcast, Holtz described how one of this former placekickers, shortly after finishing his career at Notre Dame, destroyed his reputation and wound up in prison after becoming embroiled in the Northwestern gambling scandal. Holtz also described how his teams are sometimes booed by the home fans--even after a victory--simply because they do not cover the point spread.

Bottling up legislation

The vast majority of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, supports this legislation. Even college gambling proponents concede that these bills would pass overwhelmingly in both houses. The two companion bills passed by wide margins in the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Judiciary Committee, but that is as far as they have gone.

What is the hold-up? It is the gambling industry. Casinos poured millions into the campaign coffers of both parties during the 2000 elections. Further, the American Gaming Association has shelled out millions more in a full court press lobbying effort. It has bought such favor with Congress that House and Senate leaders refuse to even allow a vote. In fact, not a single leader in either house--Republican or Democrat--would even grant a meeting with the NCAA, despite repeated requests, all the while maintaining an open-door policy with the gift-beating gambling industry.

During the Congressional debate over the legislation, casino operators have thrown out a bevy of desperate excuses to defend their indefensible, but lucrative, enterprise. From one side of their mouths, they claim that this legislation would be, in the words of Sen. Richard Bryan (D.-Nev.), "an illegal bookie's dream," by driving Nevada's business underground. Out of the other, they contend that the amount gambled legally on sports betting is an inconsequential one percent, compared to the total that is bet illegally. The truth is, no one has the slightest idea how much is gambled illegally on college sports, although all agree that it is a substantial sum.

Far from the sharp distinctions that gambling apologists attempt to draw between illegal sports gambling and that which takes place in Nevada, the reality is that legal and illegal forms enjoy a symbiotic relationship. Our commission's final report states succinctly: "Legal sports wagering--especially the publication in the media of Las Vegas and offshore generated point spreads--fuels a much larger amount of illegal sports wagering."

During our deliberations, it became clear that the apparent legitimacy given to sports gambling by Nevada's casinos has confused the public. Many, if not most, Americans do not understand that it is illegal everywhere else. Nowhere is this more evident than on college campuses. A study released in 2000 revealed that 39% of male college students gamble on sports. One of the Boston College football players involved in that school's gambling scandal said, "To tell the troth, it never crossed my mind it was illegal, it was so commonplace." In his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Holtz stated, "People in general, college students in particular, have the belief that betting on college athletics is okay because it is legal in Nevada."

The relationship between the two forms of sports gambling is even more direct. Kevin Pendergast, the former Notre Dame place-kicker, placed a $20,000 bet in Las Vegas because local bookies could not accept such a large bet. "Without the option of betting money in Nevada," Pendergast told members of Congress, "the Northwestern basketball point-shaving scandal would not have occurred."

Four gamblers in the Arizona State basketball case placed a total of 61 bets at Las Vegas wagering establishments, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2000, Chicago authorities broke up a multimillion-dollar sports betting ring. The operators, some of whom have been convicted of mob-related crimes, used cell phones to relay bets to Las Vegas on pro and college football and basketball games, according to a U.S. Attorney.

Casino moguls also trot out the state's rights argument, all the while struggling to maintain a straight face. The argument is ludicrous. Nevada, fully cognizant of the dangers inherent in sports gambling, until recently prohibited betting on teams within the state.

The casinos' tactics include trying to shift the blame and criticize the NCAA for not doing enough to stop illegal gambling. In recent years, though, the NCAA has launched an aggressive, multi-front attack aimed at curtailing gambling and its influence on college sports.

Three NCAA staffers are assigned to a gambling task force. In April, 2000, the association's management council established automatic penalties for gambling involvement among players, including a complete loss of eligibility for participants who bet on their own games. Representatives from the FBI are brought in each year to address Division I athletes on the dangers of gambling. The NCAA airs public-service announcements, featuring prominent student-athletes, during high-profile televised sporting events. The organization also has instituted random background checks on officials who work the NCAA Division I basketball tournament each March. In addition, the NCAA continues to sponsor research, distribute relevant resources to schools and athletes, and is currently working to develop a curriculum for all college students regarding gambling's dangers.

These efforts are destined for minimal success, however, unless all 50 states present a united front against gambling on college sport, s. As long as the status quo exists, the only question is "when," not "if," the next college gambling scandal will erupt. The temptation is simply too great. Smith, the former Arizona State basketball player, wrote in Sports Illustrated, "I can tell you how easily players can be drawn into fixing games. Poor, naive teenagers plus rich, greedy gamblers equals disaster."

We should not have to wonder if our team's game is already fixed so that a handful of casino moguls can fatten their bottom lines. Let us protect college athletics from any more disasters. Ban gambling on college sports.

James C. Dobson, founder and president of Focus on the Family, a Christian ministry based in Colorado Springs, Colo., served on the National Gambling Impact Study Commission.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Society for the Advancement of Education
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group