Bracket Pay Off
Gambling: Losing and Winning with NCAA
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Photos Courtesy of MCT Campus. Missouri guard Kim English sits dejected following the team’s 82-75 loss to the University of Connecticut on Saturday.
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Louisville’s Edgar Sosa looks up in disgust after being called for a defensive foul on Michigan State’s Kalin Lucas during the Spartans’ 64-52 win over the Cardinals on Sunday.
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Villanova’s Corey Fisher is fouled by Pittsburgh’s Brad Wanamaker on Saturday in Boston. Villanova won 78-76.
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North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough (50) battles with Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin (23) during Sunday’s tournament final.
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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill coach Roy Williams and his team celebrate their 72-60 victory over Oklahoma.
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Villanova, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Michigan State or Connecticut. Just three games stand between one of these schools' men's basketball teams and the 2009 NCAA Championship. Those same three games separate sports gambling enthusiasts from billions of dollars wagered on the outcome of brackets filled out at the tournament's beginning in a college basketball phenomenon known as March Madness.
The NCAA estimates that one in 10 Americans will complete an NCAA Tournament bracket this year. At Elon, nearly 68 percent of students reported filling out a March Madness bracket in a voluntary online survey of 100 students conducted by The Pendulum March 23-27.
"Whether or not you're a sports fan, March Madness is a national sensation. Personally, it is one of my favorite sporting events during the year," freshman Steven MacDougall said. "The excitement is undeniable when filling out the brackets with friends and family."
Racking up the dough
The Nevada Gaming Commission estimates legal wagering on March Madness at $80 to 90 million, and Nevada is the only place where sports gambling is legal. In Nevada, bets are placed on the NCAA tournament not only by filling out the popular brackets but also on the outcome of each game.
Legal March Madness bets pale in comparison with the more than $7 billion that sports gambling analyst Danny Sheridan estimates trades hands illegally through office pools, bets with friends, online betting and betting with bookies, according to Fox Business.
The NCAA Basketball Tournament is just one of numerous sporting events on which people place bets. While March Madness focuses media attention on the issue of sports gambling, bets are placed on all sports ranging from professional to pick-up games.
Every year, as much as $380 billion is bet illegally on sports, according to the National Gaming Impact Study Commission.
Breaking down the brackets
March Madness brackets are a beginner-level variety of sports gambling. Bettors pick teams to win each game in the tournament, advancing their favorites to the finals and selecting an NCAA champion and then submit their brackets to pools.
Winnings are determined based on which bracket in the pool is the most correct, thus earning the most points. Points are awarded for each correct pick, with more points awarded for correct picks at higher levels as the teams are narrowed down from the original 65 to 32, then to the Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight, the Final Four and the championship game.
E-TV's "One on One" sports program aired its own "bracketology," picking winners for all 63 tournament games and debating the merits of each pick.
"A lot of people do it for the social aspect," said co-host Chris Bunn. "Picking brackets doesn't require a deep knowledge (of sports wagering), and a lot of people want to try and outsmart their friends. It's a lot of luck and chance."
Filling out a bracket is not illegal itself, as long as it is submitted to a pool that is purely for sport and not for money. Popular media networks like ESPN and Elon's Pendulum sponsor legal March Madness pools.
Beating the odds
Sports betting, though, encompasses much more than March Madness brackets. There are bets placed on every game, with money riding on the games' outcome.
It starts with the "Vegas odds" that decide which team is the favorite, and which is the underdog. Then the "point spread" is decided. The point spread is the number of points by which the underdog is supposed to lose.
When gamblers "take the points," it means they think the underdog will be within the spread, while "giving the points" means they expect the underdog will not be within the spread.
Outside of March Madness, the Super Bowl and the World Series are top draws for bettors. And sometimes that can interfere with the game itself.
A sordid past
Gambling and sports have a messy history dating back to the 1919 Black Sox scandal, when bettors bribed members of the Chicago White Sox to throw the World Series.
Perhaps most famously, former baseball player Pete Rose voluntarily accepted a permanent ban from Major League Baseball in 1989 for allegedly betting on Cinicinnati Reds games while managing the team. Rose's gambling, confirmed in his 2004 autobiography, "My Prison Without Bars," stripped him of a spot in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
In June 2007, the FBI announced it was investigating Tim Donaghuey, a NBA referee from 1994 to 2007, for making calls that affected the point spread of games, one of which he was refereeing. Donaghuey pleaded guilty to charges and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
Rick Neuheisel, a former Washington Huskies football coach, lost his job after he was caught betting on the 2003 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
Banning bets
The NCAA vehemently opposes sports gambling and punishes collegiate athletes' participation in such activity with ineligibility.
The association's manual states, "The NCAA opposes sports gambling because it undermines and carries the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and because it sends the wrong message concerning the purpose and meaning of ‘sport.'"
Elon students that were polled were split 50/50 on whether they felt coaches, players and officials should be penalized for their involvement in sports gambling.
"I think that it is comparable to cheating on a test," freshman Frank Stiefel said. "It is your job and gambling on sporting events damages the integrity of the game and those who play it. Coaches and refs should be fired and players should be banned from playing and become ineligible for the Hall of Fame. However jail time can be excessive, depending on the degree of the crime."
Gaming goes on
Although sports leagues publicly discourage gambling on sports, there doesn't seem to be much they can do to stop people outside the organizations from placing bets on the games.
"I fill out a bracket nearly every year, usually a bunch of them," MacDougall says.
More than 41 percent of college students report participating in some form of gambling each year, according to the Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program at Indiana University.
Eleven percent of Elon students reported gambling at least $25 per year on sports, with 3 percent wagering $100 or more.
"I like making bets with my friends, even without money. You can gamble with different things – it can just be friendly," Elon freshman Scott Immel said.
Wagering dangerously
"Most people can gamble responsibly and never develop a problem. For some, gambling develops into a problem for which they have little to no control," said Mary Lay, project manager of the Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program, in a press release. "Problem gambling can lead to financial devastation, crime and poor physical and mental health, including an increased risk of substance abuse, depression and suicide."
Problem gambling among college students is more than double that of the general population, with an estimated 3 to 4 percent of college student gamblers developing into problem gamblers, according to Lay. She attributes increased gambling in part to students' easy access to credit cards and more than 2,000 betting Web sites available.
A simple Google search for "March Madness betting" returns nearly 80 million hits featuring everything from online gambling clubs to wagering odds to news articles on the proliferation of people placing bets on the NCAA's Basketball Tournament. The popular social-networking site Facebook has more than 500 groups dedicated to the tournament.
Sixty-three percent of Elon students polled said they think online gambling is legal, when in reality it is not. While nearly 91 percent said they had never gambled online, this lack of knowledge can lead to unknowingly participating in illegal activity.
Friendly March Madness pools challenging friends to predict this year's NCAA champions may not be completely harmless, even if there's no money at stake. It may be a gateway to problem gambling.
Breaking the bank
Thirty-seven percent of Elon students surveyed said they had gambled on sports, legally or illegally.
"Many students participate in online gambling and do not understand that it is a (honor code) violation that can have serious consequences," Coordinator for Judicial Affairs Whitney Pack Gregory said.
Pack Gregory said many cases of gambling go unreported, as the victim in the instance is the bettor. Two cases of gambling were reported to judicial affairs in 2008.
"In the two cases that were reported to us last year, the violation came to light because students had stolen money or credit cards from roommates/suitemates who were not gambling in order to gamble online or pay for gambling debts," Pack Gregory said.
Elon's sanctions for a first-time gambling violation range from probation to suspension, with the possibility of an additional educational program or project and/or a counseling assessment and completion of recommendations, according to the student handbook.
Problem gambling among college students is characterized by spending more time or money on gambling than intended, lying to friends and family about gambling and missing class and grades dropping due to preoccupation with gambling among other things, according to the Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program.
Lay said college students and anyone else who bets on sporting events should remember that sports betting is illegal in every state, except Nevada, and that there are risks involved with gambling.
The NCAA estimates that one in 10 Americans will complete an NCAA Tournament bracket this year. At Elon, nearly 68 percent of students reported filling out a March Madness bracket in a voluntary online survey of 100 students conducted by The Pendulum March 23-27.
"Whether or not you're a sports fan, March Madness is a national sensation. Personally, it is one of my favorite sporting events during the year," freshman Steven MacDougall said. "The excitement is undeniable when filling out the brackets with friends and family."
Racking up the dough
The Nevada Gaming Commission estimates legal wagering on March Madness at $80 to 90 million, and Nevada is the only place where sports gambling is legal. In Nevada, bets are placed on the NCAA tournament not only by filling out the popular brackets but also on the outcome of each game.
Legal March Madness bets pale in comparison with the more than $7 billion that sports gambling analyst Danny Sheridan estimates trades hands illegally through office pools, bets with friends, online betting and betting with bookies, according to Fox Business.
The NCAA Basketball Tournament is just one of numerous sporting events on which people place bets. While March Madness focuses media attention on the issue of sports gambling, bets are placed on all sports ranging from professional to pick-up games.
Every year, as much as $380 billion is bet illegally on sports, according to the National Gaming Impact Study Commission.
Breaking down the brackets
March Madness brackets are a beginner-level variety of sports gambling. Bettors pick teams to win each game in the tournament, advancing their favorites to the finals and selecting an NCAA champion and then submit their brackets to pools.
Winnings are determined based on which bracket in the pool is the most correct, thus earning the most points. Points are awarded for each correct pick, with more points awarded for correct picks at higher levels as the teams are narrowed down from the original 65 to 32, then to the Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight, the Final Four and the championship game.
E-TV's "One on One" sports program aired its own "bracketology," picking winners for all 63 tournament games and debating the merits of each pick.
"A lot of people do it for the social aspect," said co-host Chris Bunn. "Picking brackets doesn't require a deep knowledge (of sports wagering), and a lot of people want to try and outsmart their friends. It's a lot of luck and chance."
Filling out a bracket is not illegal itself, as long as it is submitted to a pool that is purely for sport and not for money. Popular media networks like ESPN and Elon's Pendulum sponsor legal March Madness pools.
Beating the odds
Sports betting, though, encompasses much more than March Madness brackets. There are bets placed on every game, with money riding on the games' outcome.
It starts with the "Vegas odds" that decide which team is the favorite, and which is the underdog. Then the "point spread" is decided. The point spread is the number of points by which the underdog is supposed to lose.
When gamblers "take the points," it means they think the underdog will be within the spread, while "giving the points" means they expect the underdog will not be within the spread.
Outside of March Madness, the Super Bowl and the World Series are top draws for bettors. And sometimes that can interfere with the game itself.
A sordid past
Gambling and sports have a messy history dating back to the 1919 Black Sox scandal, when bettors bribed members of the Chicago White Sox to throw the World Series.
Perhaps most famously, former baseball player Pete Rose voluntarily accepted a permanent ban from Major League Baseball in 1989 for allegedly betting on Cinicinnati Reds games while managing the team. Rose's gambling, confirmed in his 2004 autobiography, "My Prison Without Bars," stripped him of a spot in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
In June 2007, the FBI announced it was investigating Tim Donaghuey, a NBA referee from 1994 to 2007, for making calls that affected the point spread of games, one of which he was refereeing. Donaghuey pleaded guilty to charges and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
Rick Neuheisel, a former Washington Huskies football coach, lost his job after he was caught betting on the 2003 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
Banning bets
The NCAA vehemently opposes sports gambling and punishes collegiate athletes' participation in such activity with ineligibility.
The association's manual states, "The NCAA opposes sports gambling because it undermines and carries the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and because it sends the wrong message concerning the purpose and meaning of ‘sport.'"
Elon students that were polled were split 50/50 on whether they felt coaches, players and officials should be penalized for their involvement in sports gambling.
"I think that it is comparable to cheating on a test," freshman Frank Stiefel said. "It is your job and gambling on sporting events damages the integrity of the game and those who play it. Coaches and refs should be fired and players should be banned from playing and become ineligible for the Hall of Fame. However jail time can be excessive, depending on the degree of the crime."
Gaming goes on
Although sports leagues publicly discourage gambling on sports, there doesn't seem to be much they can do to stop people outside the organizations from placing bets on the games.
"I fill out a bracket nearly every year, usually a bunch of them," MacDougall says.
More than 41 percent of college students report participating in some form of gambling each year, according to the Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program at Indiana University.
Eleven percent of Elon students reported gambling at least $25 per year on sports, with 3 percent wagering $100 or more.
"I like making bets with my friends, even without money. You can gamble with different things – it can just be friendly," Elon freshman Scott Immel said.
Wagering dangerously
"Most people can gamble responsibly and never develop a problem. For some, gambling develops into a problem for which they have little to no control," said Mary Lay, project manager of the Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program, in a press release. "Problem gambling can lead to financial devastation, crime and poor physical and mental health, including an increased risk of substance abuse, depression and suicide."
Problem gambling among college students is more than double that of the general population, with an estimated 3 to 4 percent of college student gamblers developing into problem gamblers, according to Lay. She attributes increased gambling in part to students' easy access to credit cards and more than 2,000 betting Web sites available.
A simple Google search for "March Madness betting" returns nearly 80 million hits featuring everything from online gambling clubs to wagering odds to news articles on the proliferation of people placing bets on the NCAA's Basketball Tournament. The popular social-networking site Facebook has more than 500 groups dedicated to the tournament.
Sixty-three percent of Elon students polled said they think online gambling is legal, when in reality it is not. While nearly 91 percent said they had never gambled online, this lack of knowledge can lead to unknowingly participating in illegal activity.
Friendly March Madness pools challenging friends to predict this year's NCAA champions may not be completely harmless, even if there's no money at stake. It may be a gateway to problem gambling.
Breaking the bank
Thirty-seven percent of Elon students surveyed said they had gambled on sports, legally or illegally.
"Many students participate in online gambling and do not understand that it is a (honor code) violation that can have serious consequences," Coordinator for Judicial Affairs Whitney Pack Gregory said.
Pack Gregory said many cases of gambling go unreported, as the victim in the instance is the bettor. Two cases of gambling were reported to judicial affairs in 2008.
"In the two cases that were reported to us last year, the violation came to light because students had stolen money or credit cards from roommates/suitemates who were not gambling in order to gamble online or pay for gambling debts," Pack Gregory said.
Elon's sanctions for a first-time gambling violation range from probation to suspension, with the possibility of an additional educational program or project and/or a counseling assessment and completion of recommendations, according to the student handbook.
Problem gambling among college students is characterized by spending more time or money on gambling than intended, lying to friends and family about gambling and missing class and grades dropping due to preoccupation with gambling among other things, according to the Indiana Problem Gambling Awareness Program.
Lay said college students and anyone else who bets on sporting events should remember that sports betting is illegal in every state, except Nevada, and that there are risks involved with gambling.
Updated March 31, 2009
