Column: Given the NBA’s problems, the NCAA should go back to banning betting

The NCAA chose Hell of a Week Get into the gambling businessisn’t it?

Approving a rule change within 24 hours that would allow student athletes and athletic department employees to bet only on professional sports, The FBI was arrested More than 30 people have been linked to a major sports gambling and betting scheme. The level of complicity alleged in a 22-page indictment reads like a Scorsese script with four New York mafia families, a current NBA player and a head coach all accused.

For NBA commissioner Adam Silver, news and arrests are a public relations nightmare.

But for the NCAA, it’s a warning.

Since the Supreme Court ruling in 2018 opened up sports betting, more than 35 states have legalized it, so I can understand why the industry doesn’t feel like crap anymore. But the governing body for more than half a million young athletes must remember that nothing will ever clean up the industry.

A century ago, the Black Sox scandal nearly destroyed baseball in America. Fast forward 100 years and we find 16 professional tennis players – including a US Open champion – were Fixing matches for gambling syndicates In Russia and Italy. In between, Pete “Charlie Hustle” Rose received a lifetime ban for betting on baseball games as a manager and Tim Dungy, an NBA referee, was arrested for betting on sports. Last year, former NBA player Jontay Porter was found to have placed several bets on games using someone else’s account. We call him “former” because the league banned him for life.

So, if NCAA officials believe that it is too difficult to enforce the current ban on gambling (it investigates many violations at many schools), imagine what life inside the organization would be like without some sort of barrier.

In fact, no imagination is needed. Just read the indictment filed by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The FBI alleges that the gambling scheme began in 2019, operated in 11 states and involved a crime family whose origins date back more than a century.

According to the documents, hidden cameras, programmable card-swapping machines and X-ray tables were among the pieces of technology used to steal tens of millions from victims during fraudulent poker games. Those involved in the scheme include Chauncey Billups – Hall of Fame player and head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. Billups, who led the Detroit Pistons to the 2004 championship, used his fame to lure victims, authorities said. In addition, the FBI said Damon Jones, a former player and assistant coach for the Lakers, shared insider information about LeBron James’ health in 2023. Terry Rozier, an active NBA player in the $100 million contract, was also caught.

Now consider this: There are about 40,000 young men and women playing NCAA basketball and about 8,000 head and assistant coaches leading teams. How sure are you that March Madness won’t make sense if coaches and players are allowed to bet on games and find themselves underwater? A recent study from UC San Diego found that internet searches for help with gambling addiction increased by 23% between 2018 and June 2024.

And while that’s true, the new law maintains a ban against student-athletes and coaches betting on college sports — so there are some safeguards against game-fixing — but downplaying results is just one potential downside of gambling. The International Tennis Federation found that angry gamblers were responsible for 40% of social media attacks targeting players, with many threats credible enough to be handed over to the FBI. And there is already evidence that college students who are not athletes Using student loan money to make betsand 2023 NCAA Survey found that 14% of US 18- to 22-year-olds bet at least several times a week.

Another 16% use a bookie.

I repeat: a bookie.

It just feels like a tragedy that we can all see.

And we’re supposed to believe that the NCAA will be equipped to protect student athletes from predators when the mafia uses so-called professional athletes and x-ray machines to rob card players who should know better? The decision-making process for the human brain doesn’t fully develop until a person is 25 years old, and the NCAA only allowed 18-year-olds to go into deep water with the sharks with “name, image, example” money.

Given what emerged in the NBA this week, the responsible move for the NCAA would be to stop the rule change – which takes effect November 1 – and reassess the risks. It’s one thing for sports gambling to cost a professional athlete his career. It would be worse to let addiction or debt responsibilities steal a young person’s future before it starts.

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