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Summary:
- College basketball players from several U.S. schools are in the spotlight for gambling and alleged game-fixing.
- Despite the NCAA’s efforts to guarantee integrity, sports betting has become an unavoidable part of the landscape.
- With legalized gambling now widely accessible across the U.S., the need for a solution is more burning than ever.
The hot topic of gambling, game-fixing, and cheating in sports has been in the spotlight for a while now.
The disturbing front-page stories of college basketball players from Fresno State, Iowa, Iowa State, and New Orleans are no news to anyone. What these players have in common is the fact that they were all scrutinized for their involvement in gambling or potential game-fixing.
Is Cheating Inevitable in College Sports?
When acknowledging that betting has become a ubiquitous part of society, covering everything from dice and horse racing to camel races and underground fighting, some level of cheating seems inevitable.
Beyond the schools already mentioned earlier, games involving Temple, North Carolina A&T, Eastern Michigan, and Mississippi Valley State have also been flagged for what has been described as “unusual wagering activity” by an ESPN monitoring site.
At Fresno State, guard Jalen Weaver admitted to ESPN that he placed a wager on his own performance in a December 31 matchup against New Mexico.
Betting through the fantasy platform Sleeper, which openly advertises on platforms like Google Play, he risked $50 on the assumption he would score more than 11 points.
He finished with 13 in a 103-89 loss.
“The NCAA Takes Sports Betting Very Seriously”
Authorities, the NCAA, and federal investigators are all taking a closer look at this growing problem. The organization declared in a statement,
The NCAA takes sports betting very seriously and is committed to the protection of student-athlete well-being and the integrity of competition
Unfortunately, the Chicago Sun Times’ Rick Telander believes the world of sports is practically begging fans to gamble.
With betting platforms accessible everywhere you look, flashing odds in real-time, and no less than 39 states giving the green light to sports betting, anyone can place a wager at any moment.
Plus, betting is woven into sports culture. Fixing games is no news to anyone, dating back decades.
The 1951 point-shaving scandal at Madison Square Garden involved multiple teams, while mobster Henry Hill orchestrated Boston College’s infamous scheme in 1978. Northwestern had its own scandal in the mid-90s, with both football and basketball players implicated.
The example of Arizona State’s Stevin “Hedake” Smith is also mindblowing.
In 1994, Smith single-handedly manipulated a game against Oregon State by playing just badly enough on defense to keep the margin within the fixers’ desired spread despite dropping 39 points and tying a conference record for three-pointers.
As the NCAA Tournament draws near, millions of Americans will fill out brackets, caught up in the thrill. The authorities are busy making sure game-fixing is kept at an all-time low this time.
