Essay, Research Paper: Sports Gambling

It s illegal to bet on college athletics in 49 states, said former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz, Why isn t it in the 50th state as well? Gambling is an institution that has been a part of people s lives for many years; recently a new area has attracted attention for betting. College athletics are now an integral piece in gambling and provides a broader scheme for sport betting. The industry is fed by one state out of 50 in which sport gambling is legal. The legalization of college sport gambling in Nevada has created huge controversy in the United States, because of the corruption, such as game rigging and point shaving (Bartlett 53). These problems cause many people to believe that the industry should be completely outlawed. Although the problems seem extreme, gambling has long been considered an entertaining past time, which has certain benefits for the nation and its citizens. It is necessary for America to come to a resolution on the collegiate sports gambling and to end the problems that have recently developed. Resolving the problem can help revive the benefits college athletics can have on all those involved.
Nevada is the only state where gambling is legal. One of the main reasons why people don t want to rid Nevada of it s rights is because wagering on college sports amounts to less than 1% of casino business in that state. Plus if you eliminate the only state where it is legal, then every bit of gambling would be illegal. Some think that putting a ban on Nevada won t change anything, but make more illegal gambling wagers than ever before. Another reason that gambling is kept legal is because a huge percentage of the money made, goes to our political parties. Casinos in Nevada have donated mass amounts of money to both parties for campaigning. In fact, if Nevada becomes banned from legal gambling, they wouldn t be receiving anything from the casinos. The problem with Nevada is that it s convenient because it allows legal gambling that other states don t, but bookies in the other 49 states place illegal bets into the casinos to shelter themselves from having to pay out improbable winners at high odds. Therefore bookies are making out pretty good, they get to place bets on both teams, and still end up making money.
On the other sides of things, by betting on college sporting events legally, leads to unofficial games being played. Nevada offers odds when betting on college sports, which means they have a point spread. A point spread is where one team either receives points or loses them. Whether or not the team wins, if they don t cover the point spread, they still lose and gamblers win money. It s easy to see that having a point spread can create problems with the athletes, coaches, and even officials. The athletes are offered large sums of money to throw the game, or point shave. By fixing a game means that an athlete, will keep the score inside of the point spread, so gamblers will make money, which allows the athletes to be paid off. To shave points an athlete will do things like miss an easy shot or throw the ball away on purpose, so his team won t exceed the point spread. State-sponsored sports betting could change forever the relationship between the players and the game, and the game and the fans. Sports would become the gamblers game and not the fans game, and the athletes would become roulette chips, said Senator Bradley from New Jersey (Bartlett 57). Not only do athletes get offered bribes, but coaches and officials as well. Coaches receive bribes, and then converse with players to make it possible. The coaches have a lot of impact on what the players decision will be. A college basketball player never wants to let down his coach. If a coach is willing to throw a game, than just think how much more willing a player is. When things such as point shaving or fixing games occur, it makes people think how official each and every game is, and how they would turn out, if there was no gambling involved. What's even worse than coaches throwing games, is the officials. What might be considered a bad call, could be making some gambler big money. This kind of cheating is the hardest to detect. "The yearlong gambling study of 640 Division I officials -- from football and men's and women's basketball -- revealed that 12 officials surveyed (or nearly 2 percent) could cite instances where gambling influenced the way games were officiated" (Bibliography #7). Throwing a game is so hard to detect, that's why it's so easy to get away with. If officials can't even be fair, it's hard to expect the coaches and players to play fair.
The political parties also have a huge effect on this issue. Since they are receiving money from casinos, it's obvious why they don't desire change. If the government wasn't receiving money towards campaigning, this whole issue wouldn't be a problem. There would be no gambling allowed in Nevada. Other members of the government whom don't believe in gambling, think they the money they are receiving is "dirty money". They are just allowing the illegal gambling to continue, and they're aren't going to do a thing about it, because they are benefitting from it.
Nevada is also allowing bookies to overwork illegally. "Student athletes profit from legal bets placed in Las Vegas and Reno casinos, and, far more significantly, bookies in the other 49 states funnel illegal bets into those casinos to protect themselves from having to pay out on unlikely winners at high odds" (Sullivan). No matter what happens, Nevada is allowing the bookies to make money no matter what the outcome of the game is.
Considering it's questionable as to whether or not a game is thrown, has huge impact on the student athletes, coaches, and the fans. The game loses significance because they are always questioning whether or not it was truly official. The coaches are looking at the score of the game, rather than worrying about winning. Fans don't get to see the real competition in college sports. It's not fair for the die hard sports fans to watch their team fix games for gamblers and bookies to make money. The players are losing the enjoyment of playing, because some of their fellow athletes are just playing for the money and not the fans. When a player is caught throwing a game, they are banned from college sports, fined, and usually put in jail. Fixing a game can ruin a player's and team's reputation for life. The whole gambling issue takes away from the love people have for the game.
To recap the issue of gambling on college sports, whether or not Nevada stays legal, there are many problems that need to be resolved. Some people believe that by keeping Nevada legal, there will be less illegal gambling taking place. They think that Nevada is what allows the bookies to gamble, and the outside people to place bets. Others believe that by keeping Nevada legal, there is more illegal gambling going on with the bookies and better chances given for players to fix games. They believe that if there was no place to gamble legally there wouldn't be gambling at all. Indeed, both parties have their points, but nobody knows which will work. With the government receiving money from casinos, it'll be very hard to wipe out Nevada. Maybe Nevada isn't the problem, but rather the athletes and coaches. If our lives weren't so revolved around money, none of this would be an issue.