Gambling and Sports Figures Just dont Mix


SOURCE: Edmonton Journal

It's a good bet every sport will suffer the disgrace of an illegal gambling scandal.

Greedy or addicted athletes, coaches, managers and referees are cursed with motive while their insider positions and the pervasive nature of gambling in big-money sports inevitably offers the golden opportunity to cheat and steal.

The knee-jerk response in some corners is to call for a ban on sports gambling. Those zealots would have better luck picking 10 straight winners at Northlands Park. To quote a sporting cliche, you cannot stop illegal gambling, you can only hope to contain it.

Gambling is a societal ill and it's not going away soon, so it's naturally going to be an ongoing problem in sports. If anything, we should be surprised that the black eye Rick Tocchet's illegal bookmaking gave the National Hockey League over the past year stands out as an oddity, that dirty referee Tim Donaghy acted alone in the National Basketball Association, that there weren't 10 more Pete Roses exposed for betting on baseball games.

It's just that when you throw in the suspicions over a plethora of bets laid down on some 87th-ranked schmuck named Martin Arguello to beat fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko on the men's tennis tour, allegations that Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick's disgusting treatment of dogs was part of a gambling story, and the ever-present match-fixing in European soccer, the problem seems to be getting worse.

Truth is, illegal bookmaking and point-shaving have been a blight on sports for decades, and not only at the pro level. U.S. college campuses have been rife with scandals, from Boston College football to Arizona State basketball and the fallout has ruined many a promising career.

The ramifications are the same in the pro game. Donaghy recently pled guilty to conspiracy and admitted to contravening NBA rules by passing along insider information -- medical reports on players and the schedules of officials -- to his betting cohorts. A plea agreement will reduce the maximum 25-year prison sentence significantly, but he's finished as a referee. NBA commissioner David Stern called Donaghy a "rogue, isolated criminal."

On Friday, Tocchet received a slap on the wrist -- two years' probation -- for his conviction on charges of third-degree conspiracy to promote gambling and third-degree promotion of gambling. If the NHL penalizes Tocchet further by banishing him from the game, gambling will have cost him a coaching career and claimed another victim.

Incidents like these happen despite efforts made by the NHL, NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball to educate their players, coaches, managers and officials and prevent them from engaging in illegal gambling.

A majority of those people are content to gamble legally. Others simply cannot help themselves from crossing the line. And that makes them as human as the rest of society.

Posted by: Sports Prices