Thomas Mott Osborne: “this is the final week of the NCAA basketball tournament. This is an exciting time, and it is also a time when large…”

“this is the final week of the NCAA basketball tournament. This is an exciting time, and it is also a time when large amounts of money are gambled. In 1998, $2.5 billion was gambled on the NCAA tournament. Today, that would probably be almost double that amount. Gambling on NCAA sports has become a major problem. In 1951, CCNY had a point-shaving scandal, and Kentucky in the 1940s. In 1994, a Northwestern running back intentionally fumbled to fix a game. In 1996, 13 Boston College football players bet on NCAA games, and several bet against their own team. In 1998, a Northwestern basketball player was indicted for point shaving. In 1999, two Arizona State basketball players shaved points. This was done to pay off gambling debts. The fix was traced to organized crime in Chicago. Last month, Florida State quarterback Adrian McPherson was charged with illegal gambling, and of course he owed a bookie thousands of dollars. A University of Michigan study recently found that 5 percent of NCAA athletes that play football and basketball provided inside information to gamblers. So over 36 years of coaching, gambling was a major concern to me. I was always worried about our players getting involved because of gambling debts; but more importantly, as a coach you had to win twice. You had to win once on the scoreboard, and then you had to win again in beating the point spread.”