In my opinion, nothing strikes at the integrity of sports more than athletes who gamble. Gambling on sports outside of sanctioned casinos is illegal whether you like it or not. And gambling can be an addiction, as can be the need to win. So what's easier to insure? That the team you play for will win, or lose? You can play your heart out and still lose, but if you don't give 100% out on the field, will anyone really notice?
Here's a brief list of atheltes that either admittedly gambled on sports (but never on their own sport, the one they'd know the most about, right?) during their playing/coaching careers or were caught/investigated:
Wilt Chamberlain (who has an downloadable FBI file available)
Charles Barkley (see below)
Michael Jordan
Isiah Thomas
Jaromir Jagr
Jeremy Roenick
Rick Tocchet (okay he was just convicted of running a gambling ring)
Ty Cobb
Tris Speaker
Pete Rose (see below)
Paul Hornung (one of only 2 players ever suspended by the NFL for gambling)
Alex Karras (although he now denies it, even after being suspened with Hornung)
Mickey Mantle & Willie Mays who were both suspended by MLB after their playing careers for working with casinos (obviously, they've since been reinstated)
George Steinbrenner (suspended by MLB for associations with a gambler)
DID YOU KNOW?
The Sacramento Kings claimed in November 2009 that one of its former assistant directors of scouting, Jack Mai, was gambling while working for the franchise. It was not revealed what sort of gambling Mai was involved in, nor what sort of money was being wagered, but Mai was effectively banned from the NBA for his actions. The NBA has been rather touchy on the subject since the Tim Donaghy affair, but proves that gambling occurs on many levels within the world of sports.
Al Horford of the Atlanta Hawks claimed he made a $10,000 bet with Boston Celtics player Paul Pierce during their teams' 2008 playoff matchup. The bet was that the Celtics would not sweep the Hawks. Horford made the claim during a radio interview saying, "[Pierce] owes me money" as the Celtics did not sweep the Hawks. Horford's statement was backed up by teammate Marvin Williams who was also part of the same interview. While this story has been featured on espn.com's TrueHoop blog, the NBA has done nothing in response to this story.
Antoine Walker, former NBA All-Star and a member of the 2006 Champions Miami Heat, reportedly ran up over $1 million in gambling debts in the span of a year. This debt began immediately after the end of the 2007-08 NBA season, Walker's last year in the league. Approximately $178,000 of that debt was paid back, but another $882, 500 was not - in fact Walker was charged with three felony counts for writing bad checks (10 checks in total) to cover those losses to three different Las Vegas casinos. The question now is, does Walker have a gambling problem, and if so, did it creep into his life while a member of the NBA? If this was the case, then could Walker have bet on basketball or done worse during his lengthy NBA career?
In May of 2009, the state of Delaware once again legalized sports gambling within its borders. The state already possesses "racinos" - casinos attached to race tracks - and once had a sports betting "lottery" during the 1976 NFL season. Now, through an exemption in federal law, Delaware (along with Nevada, Montana, and Oregon) was allowed to legalize sports gambling after it was voted in by the state legislature. The new governor of Delaware was completely behind the idea, figuring it could bring in some $100 million a year in taxes for the cash strapped state. Of course, the main reason a similar idea died in 1976 was over who set the line and why. Can a state actually (and accurately) determine a betting line on a sports event? We shall see as the state supreme court is supposed to determine whether head-to-head gambling would be allowed rather than just the parlay cards the state plans on running, much like it did in 1976. Delaware hopes to have everything up and running by the kickoff of the 2009 NFL season, something the NFL is not happy about.
At the same time as the ongoing debate in Delaware was occurring, a New Jersey state lawmaker has filed a lawsuit in March of 2009 to legalize sports gambling in all 50 states. The push comes as many Atlantic City casinos are on the verge of failing, but the state is not one of the four which has an exception in the national sports gambling law. The hope is legalizing sports gambling would bring increased legal (and taxable) revenue to these failing institutions. At least publicly, the NFL and most of the other major and college sports league are opposed to this sort of legalization.
Since the NBA dismissed 13-year veteran referee Tim Donaghy for his gambling, the NBA's internal investigation into the situation has revealed that EVERY SINGLE NBA REFEREE has broken the anti-gambling and casino rule as stipulated in their collective bargaining agreement? However, instead of punishing any or all of the refs (because, of course, none of them admitted to gambling in a sports book or with a bookie, however some did admit to gambling on sports among themselves), the NBA will instead REWRITE the rules - because according to NBA Commissioner David Stern, the current rules were "too harsh and too hard to enforce."
More Tim Donaghy - Though the NBA has labeled this a "desperate act of a convicted felon hoping to avoid jail time," Donaghy told investigators that relationships between officials, coaches, and players "affected the outcomes of games." Donaghy has supposedly worked with investigators and is seeking (like anyone would) a lightened sentence because of his cooperation. The NBA, of course, has effectively silenced as much of this as possible and are attempting to use the ol' "if he's a felon, you can't trust anything he claims" defense against Donaghy's allegations. Read more here.
A prime example of NBA game fixing?
It's quite possible that mixed martial arts is fixed as well. This comes as no surprise to me, since the "sport" is a cross between pro wrestling (which we know is fixed) and boxing (which has had so many matches fixed over the years, no one can keep count anymore). But what makes this interesting is that in the Oct. '08 Kimbo Slice/Seth Petruzelli fight is that Petruzelli let it slip that their fight may have been intentionally manipulated. On an Orlando based radio program Petruzelli said, "The promoters kind of hinted to me and they gave me the money to stand and trade with him. They didn't want me to take him down, let's just put it that way. It was worth my while to try to stand up and punch with him." Many won't/don't care about this potentially fixed fight, yet both the Mandalay Bay and Venetian casinos in Las Vegas took bets on the fight - and if it was indeed fixed, or intentionally influenced - then criminal charges could ensue. As of now, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation has opened an investigation.
All-world scumbag Pete Rose admitted on ESPN radio (March 13, '07) that the Dowd Report (MLB's investigation into him gambling) was correct, and that he was betting on the Reds "every night." Of course, he claims he always bet on them to win, and I, for one, believe him because Pete has always told the truth about his gambling habits, right?
Charles Barkley has recently admitted he has a gambling problem in an interview with a Phoenix TV station. In a different interview with ESPN in '06, he claims to have lost $10 million over the years and up to $2.5 million "in a six hour period" last year. Of course, he doesn't feel this is a "real problem" because he can afford to lose this kind of money. He also claimed to have won money betting on the Colts in Super Bowl XLI. I wonder if he ever plunked down some $ on an NBA game?
More on Sir Charles - in May of '08, the Wynn Hotel/Casino filed civil complaint against Barkley for failure to pay back $400,000 the casino loaned him. Barkley claimed he had no money "problems" but simply forgot/failed to pay the casino back. Once he did, he publically vowed not to gamble "for the next year or two." Sounds like someone indeed has a gambling problem.
"Pacman" Jones, already having endured a year long suspension from the NFL for his off-the-field behavior, was nearly charged with another felony in May of '08 for not paying off a $20,000 marker he held at Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas. The NFL does not forbid its players from gambling (as long as they are not gambling on NFL games) however they cannot be happy that one of their players - especially someone with Pacman's rap sheet - isn't paying off his gambling debts on time.
According to one of the top handicappers in the world, less than 1 in 12 NFL gamblers will turn a profit over the course of a season. Over multiple seasons, the percentage of gamblers who continue to turn a profit is minuscule. In fact, the number of gamblers who win betting pro football is so small, it's virtually as if no one ever won.
For all you gamblers out there, did you know that professional sports gamblers agree that it is nearly impossible to win 60% of your bets over the course of a season? A winning percentage closer to 58% is more attainable (while anything above a 52.4% winning percentage will allow you a profit). So any so-called "tout service" advertising that they can successfully predict winners against the spread more than 60% of the time is outright lying to you.
Did you know that point spreads do NOT indicate which team is favored to win a game? Point spreads exist only to even out the incoming money from the gambling public. The basic idea being that sports books and bookies make most of their profit from the 10% vig/juice they charge customers for making the bet. If they can even out the total dollar amount bet on each game (using the point spread), then they are insured a profit on every game no matter what the outcome. So a point spread on a given game is simply the linemaker's interpretation of what they believe to be the public's idea is of who's the favorite in a given game and nothing more.
Since the early 1960s, when "sports bribery" (that's working with or paying a player, coach, or referee to throw a game) was officially deemed a crime, the FBI has conducted over 450 investigations to such actions. Though not all of these cases deal with the 4 major professional sports leagues - many involve college athletes or known gambling sports like horse racing - this still equates to the FBI investigating approximately 10 such cases every year.
The most recent case of sports bribery has come in August of 2008 as a former University of Toledo basketball player, Sammy Villegas, was charged with fixing games in a US district court. He alledgely conspired to fix games by shaving points in both the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. It is claimed he also paid another as-yet-to-be-named player to participate in the scheme.
GAME FIXING IS ALIVE AND WELL.