The NCAA men’s and women’s Final Four will be held this weekend. And while the tourney keeps humming along, tossing buzzer beaters and agita left and right, people will have bet over three billion dollars on these games.
Remember when the intersection of sports and gambling was viewed by many as shameful? Sports and gambling? How could they? The 1919 Black Sox scandal changed people’s minds about the unholy marriage between the two.
There has been gambling scandal after gambling scandal in sports, most notably with college basketball in the 1950s. But with endless commercials for gambling sites like FanDuel and DraftKings saturating the radio and TV airwaves, how do you stop people from wasting their money? Call 1-800-Gambler if you have a problem, right?
Now, gambling issues have spread its talons into pro basketball and back into Major League Baseball. A 2007 FBI investigation into sports betting and controlling the point spread led to 13-year NBA referee Tim Donaghy’s conviction in 2008 and a 15-month jail sentence.
Last year, Hall of Fame player and Portland Trail Blazers’ head coach Chauncey Billups, the Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier (both suspended), and former Cavs assistant coach Damon Jones were arrested in an illegal sports betting and rigged poker games scandal.
Baseball has its own brewing scandal as two Cleveland Guardian pitchers — three-time All Star Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz — will not play nor be paid this year as they answer charges of “pitch rigging.” Clase, allegedly, did pitch manipulation in 48 games from 2023-25.
What’s “pitch manipulation?”
A pitcher can let betting insiders know that he will throw a pitch over or under a certain speed (like 95 mph) or when he will throw a ball and not a strike. What’s a future bet? How many times a ball player spits … or scratches his butt… and in what inning … and what cheek? By the way, is that a parlay?
Then there are new betting sites like Manhattan-based Kalshi, which allows you to do sports betting and “prediction betting” where you can wager on anything. MLB just announced that it is partnering with Polymarket as its “official prediction exchange partner.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate is examining both Polymarket and Kalshi, and a bill would prohibit betting on prediction markets for government employees and lawmakers. In 2020, HBO aired a documentary entitled “The Scheme” about the plan to funnel money from coaches to players to get star recruits to sign with their schools.
Assistant college basketball coaches Book Richardson (Arizona), Tony Bland (USC), and Lamont Evans (South Carolina and Oklahoma) were all convicted and did jail time. Former NBA star and Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person was involved but served no jail time. He was sentenced to 200 hours of community service and two years’ probation.
Christian Dawkins, one of the money men, was found guilty in federal court and sentenced to a year and a day in prison. When released, he predicted the future. “Should the players be paid? One thousand percent,” he told me back in 2020 after his jail time. He admitted his guilt but saw the big picture. “A player is not going to turn down money when they don’t have any.
“Eighty percent don’t have thousands of dollars saved. Players should be able to market themselves.”
And Dawkins today?
He’s the CEO of Seros Partners and accompanied by elite guard Mikel Brown Jr. on his recruiting visit to the University of Louisville, where he eventually enrolled. In his just-concluded freshman year, the 6’5” guard averaged 18 points and almost five assists.
Can you say Lottery Pick? Want to bet he goes pro?
By the way, how’s your NCAA bracket?