Sports and gambling: The pitfalls of an alliance

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Can we believe what we see on the athletic field, or are the outcomes being manipulated?

That’s the fundamental question now that illegal game-fixing schemes are being uncovered with increasing frequency — a predictable outcome given the way sports has embraced legalized gambling the last seven years in a tradeoff to make billions.

Another gambling scandal rocked the sports world last week, this time a point-shaving scheme in Division I college basketball. According to U.S. Attorney David Metcalf, it involved 17 schools, 39 players and 29 games. So far, 26 people have been charged. According to prosecutors, players were paid $10,000 to $30,000 to intentionally underperform, allowing bettors to win millions of dollars.

This comes just five months after a large-scale gambling scandal was uncovered in the NBA, leading to indictments against more than 30 people, including an NBA coach, an All-Star player and a former player.

A month earlier, the NCAA announced that three Fresno State basketball players had participated in a gambling scheme that involved their own games.

This came only weeks after Major League Baseball dealt with its own gambling scandal.

This is the price sports are paying after inviting gambling into their arenas. Pandora’s box was opened in 2018, when the Supreme Court ruled to allow states to decide whether to legalize sports gambling and 38 states did so (plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico).

Sports immediately forged partnerships with gaming companies and went into the gambling business. Since then, more than two dozen schemes have been uncovered in college and professional sports — hockey, baseball, basketball, football, soccer. Who knows how many other schemes have gone undetected.

In the first 99 years of the NFL, there were a total of three players who were suspended for gambling — Paul Hornung and Alex Karras in 1963 and Art Schlichter in 1983; since 2019, there have been 12 (plus one coach).

There is no shortage of fitting aphorisms, but try this one: When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

For decades, sports went to great lengths to maintain its distance from gambling. The NFL wouldn’t even allow a franchise in the gambling mecca of Las Vegas. In 2012, the NBA, MLB, NFL and NCAA actually sued New Jersey over a law that legalized sports betting in the state and defied a federal ban.

Sports leagues spared no one when it came to gambling, even when it meant a lifetime ban for baseball’s all-time hits leader Pete Rose and suspending NFL superstars Paul Hornung and Alex Karras.

When the various leagues smelled money, they quickly changed their minds. NBA commissioner Adam Silver led the way, writing an op-ed for The New York Times in 2014 in which he called for the federal government to legalize sports betting.

He got his way, four years later.

The NBA has enriched and debased itself at the same time. Last October, Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Heat guard Terry Rozier were among 34 people who were arrested as a result of a yearslong investigation into a scheme that rigged bets and poker games and was affiliated with mafia families and organized crime networks. Rozier appeared in court in handcuffs and shackles wearing a Charlotte Hornets sweatshirt — not a good look for the NBA.

“The fraud is mind boggling,” FBI director Kash Patel told reporters. “We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multiyear investigation.”

This will be Silver’s most enduring legacy.

Not that the NBA regrets it. The league is making close to $600 million annually through partnerships with gambling businesses, advertising, gaming revenue and increased engagement with fans, whose betting leads to increased viewership, which, in turn, leads to increased media rights fees, ticket and merchandise sales. It’s the same story in the other sports.

The professional sports leagues naively thought that gambling could be contained and that the integrity of competition would not be threatened. The late David Stern, who had vehemently opposed gambling while employed as the NBA commissioner, reversed field after retiring in 2014, stating, “I’m with commissioner Silver. There should be a federal legislation that says, ‘Let’s go all the way,’ and have betting on sports. It’s OK. It’s going to be properly regulated.”

Nobody’s been able to properly regulate it, it turns out.

It’s mind-blowing hypocrisy for the NBA and NFL to tell players and coaches that they can’t associate with gambling while fully embracing gambling themselves.

A sampling of just the more recent fallout, beginning in 2022: Four players from the Detroit Lions and one from the Washington Commanders were suspended for gambling, three of them for betting on NFL games; an Alabama baseball coach was fired on gambling suspicions; three players from the Indianapolis Colts were suspended for betting on NFL games, and a player from the Tennessee Titans was suspended for betting while at an NFL facility; NFL star receiver Calvin Ridley was suspended for one season for gambling on league games; Denver Broncos defensive lineman Eyioma Uwazurike was suspended for one year for betting on league games; and soccer player Felipe Hernandez was permanently banned from the MLS after a second gambling violation, three years after he confessed to gambling because he feared for his own safety due to his gambling debts.

Notre Dame suspended its men’s swim team for one year for gambling on the results of their competitions.

Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz and teammate Emmanuel Clase were federally indicted in November for allegedly rigging pitches to help gamblers win bets.

Meanwhile, the integrity of the games is suffering. If nothing else, it breeds suspicion. The Packers, who were 13.5-point underdogs against the Vikings in the regular-season finale, kicked a meaningless field goal on the final play to cut the score to 16-3, thus covering the spread. The fan-gamblers went berserk. Other similar situations have popped up consistently during the season. Any questionable calls by officials draws similar scrutiny.

Can you trust what you’re seeing?

Speaking last week about the latest college basketball scandal, Metcalf (the U.S. attorney) said it threatened “the integrity of sport itself and everything that sports represent to us — hard work, determination and fairness.”

Aside from the harm the various leagues have inflicted upon themselves with their gambling associations, there is the collateral damage. Internet searches for gambling addiction assistance rose 23% nationally, with more significant increases in states with legal sportsbooks.

In some states it’s much higher — 67% in Ohio, 50% in Pennsylvania, 47% in Massachusetts. There are common search phrases — “Am I addicted to gambling?” “Help me find help with gambling addiction.” According to the American Gaming Association, NFL bettors were expected to wager approximately $30 billion on the league in 2025 — up from $27.5 billion in 2024.

It’s everywhere. Fans are bombarded with advertising for gambling companies — FanDuel, DraftKings, etc., one of which was a major TV sponsor for last weekend’s NFL playoffs. Talk shows, pregame shows and news outlets discuss betting and point spreads.

There are gambling apps and websites to make gambling convenient, easy and private. It’s no surprise that total sports wagers surged from $4.9 billion in 2017 to over $121 billion in 2023, with 94% of wagers placed online. It will continue to increase.

It’s the same thing that has occurred in the porn industry — the easy availability, the proliferation, the harm.

According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, approximately 5 million Americans are considered compulsive gamblers, only about 8% of whom will ever seek help. According to the NCPG website, debt.org reports that up to 23 million Americans land in debt due to gambling.

The sports world saw what gambling addiction could do decades ago when Art Schlichter’s descent played out in public. The fourth overall pick of the 1982 NFL draft, the quarterback was brought down by his gambling addiction and played in only 13 games. Eventually, he was sent to prison. His troubles have continued for four decades.