NCAA Football Ncaa Basketball Gambling

Does your bracket look good after two days? I'm feeling pretty good after getting 26 out of 32 right in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and heading into the second round with 14 of my Sweet 16 still remaining, with only Clemson and UConn knocked out. I'm kicking myself for changing my mind about St. Mary's-Miami, but all things considered I like where I stand.

But there are 51 people I'm in awe of: Those are the 51 who sit at the top of the more than 3 million entries on the ESPN.com leaderboard, the 51 people who got 30 out of 32 picks correct in their brackets. Of those 51, seven still have all 16 of their Sweet 16 alive. That's impressive.

But it's also a reminder of how ridiculous it is when you sometimes see those contests that promise multimillion-dollar prizes for anyone with a perfect bracket. A perfect bracket is not going to happen. If more than 3 million people enter at ESPN.com and no one can even get 31 out of 32 right in the first round, we can forget anyone going 63-for-63 in the Tournament as a whole.

Incidentally, of the seven people who got 30 picks right in the first round and still have their whole Sweet 16 remaining, two picked Texas to win it all, two picked Memphis to win it all, one picked Georgetown, one picked UCLA, and one picked, of all teams, Villanova.

Whatever is actually happening in the Toledo point shaving scandal is unclear with charges dropped (for now). It has renewed interest in point shaving and the college games.

Some Las Vegas sports gambling experts are suspicious of the Toledo football team's performance in the '05 season. Lopsided betting to one side or the other of a line changes the point spread - and raises questions in the gambling community.

During that season, the lines moved by two points or more on seven games, says RJ Bell, president of Pregame.com. Each time, the bettors driving the changes won. "The odds of that happening randomly are 128-1 ... which tells me these guys knew something."

The "betting patterns" on Toledo during the 2005 season became so suspicious that Nevada's State Gaming Control Board investigated two games, chief enforcement officer Jerry Markling says. After concluding there were no violations by state casinos, the board closed its investigation in December 2005.

As I wrote before, the suspicions were noticed by legal sportsbooks. They have important interests in stopping any point shaving. They take the financial hit if the money gets too lopsided.

College sports are logically the only reliable target for any sports fix. The money made in professional sports by the athletes (who are in a position to impact the game) is just too huge to be worth the risk of being paid to shave points or throw a game. College "amateurs," though, are more likely to have a price since they don't get paid, or can be put in a compromising situation with greater ease. (Even if collegiate sports paid some stipend, the odds are it wouldn't be enough.)

This is what inevitably leads to the argument of "banning" gambling on college sports. The dupe to suggest that in this article is Justin Wolfers, assistant professor of business and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. The idea is stupid, because it would only ban legal gambling on college sports in the country. Forgetting that most of the sports gambling in the US is illegal bookmaking. It also wouldn't shut down all the off-shore or out of the country sports books. The gambler who is (allegedly) involved in the Toledo point shaving scandal was placing the bets in Canada.

Point shaving is going to rear its ugly head in college athletics periodically, simply because there are always people who will try to cheat a system. And there are always those who have a price.

Previously at Fanhouse:
This is Why Legal Gambling Helps
Point Shaving at Toledo

Has it really been 7 years since the last misguided attempts by college coaches and the NCAA to try and ban legal gambling on college sports. Cynically, I expect that the Toledo point shaving scandal that is now blossoming will renew calls for the sort of ban. They will cite the gambling on college sports as being the reason for it happening. Not that it would matter in this day and age. Not with the internet, offshore betting houses, legal sportsbooks in Canada and England. That won't matter. Someone will strike a righteous tone of how legal gambling and publishing point spreads encourages scandals like this.

It's a joke. How do you think Federal officials became aware of something fishy going on at Toledo in the first place?

The oddsmaker, Kenny White, chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sports Consultants, said that beginning in the 2004 season he and his associates noticed that there was heavy betting on certain Toledo football games and those of another Mid-American Conference team he declined to name.

"But then it stopped and it was just Toledo," he said.

The unusual betting pattern continued into the 2005 season, according to White. As his suspicions grew, he watched tape of all of Toledo's football games in 2004 and part of 2005.

"We really couldn't pinpoint a single player or coach or official," he said. "But we knew something was happening there."

At that point, about October 2005, White said he filed a report with the Nevada Gaming Commission and the NCAA. His report did not mention basketball games.

It's in legal sportsbooks' best interest to make sure the games are clean. If the games are being fixed or point-shaving, it hurts them. Notice that even the NCAA was notified of the problem. The sportsbooks are happy to alert the NCAA to potential scandals.

Previously at Fanouse:
Point Shaving at Toledo

I keep going back and forth as to whether point shaving schemes at smaller schools make more or less sense. On the one hand, the programs and the players draw a lot less scrutiny as to the actions. Making it easier for things to come in under the radar.

The counter-argument is that these smaller programs hardly see the heavier gambling action. So if there is any significant betting one way or the other, it can catch everyone's attention when there is sudden swing.

The Toledo Athletic Department is finding itself rocked with a scandal that definitely involves the football team and quite possibly involves the basketball team as well.

As the 2005 GMAC Bowl drew closer, a Michigan gambler assured other bettors that University of Toledo football player Harvey "Scooter" McDougle offered bribes to teammates so the point spread would be covered, according to a federal criminal complaint.

Mr. McDougle, 22, who was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court in Detroit with conspiring with others in a points-shaving scheme, sat out the game because of injuries.

So far no other players have been named.

McDougle was charged in Federal Court with "conspiring to bribe to affect the outcome of a sporting event." This carries a maximum sentence of 5 years and a $250,000 fine.

The guy arranging everything so far has only been identified as "Gary." He would place the wagers in casinos in Canada. At least one other player was offered around $10,000 to sit out a game. McDougle received cars, cash and other gifts from "Gary."

The filings indicate that the basketball team may have been involved in point shaving as well. "Gary" apparently bet on both sports and McDougle may have helped him in contacting basketball players.

This will be a huge blow to Toledo Football Coach Tom Amstutz. He's considered one of the better coaches in the MAC and often mentioned as a potential target for the bigger name schools. Few coaches, though, survive point shaving scandals.