Thursday, March 24, 2005
Online gambling: NCAA Tourney's silent story
By NANCY CLARK
REGISTER COLUMNIST
March 24, 2005
Office pools are for sissies.
Real players go online.
That's where NCAA Tournament wagering gets serious. Sophisticated. Scary.
Millions of bettors worldwide will shuttle between $1 billion and $1.3 billion in currency electronically, anonymously, to online sites during the college basketball tournament's run.
Online wagers during March Madness are at least double the wagers for the Super Bowl.
If those statistics quoted by USA Today don't make you look differently at the Sweet 16 games today and Friday, look again.
Inside the arenas it's about basketball. Sneakers. Sweat.
Out in the world a bigger, broader game is being played.
Inside the arena:
Chris Foster's three-point play brings Northern Iowa within three points of Wisconsin, 51-48, and Ben Jacobson sets up for a tying shot with 3 minutes to go in a first-round game.
Out in the world:
Bettors from Berlin to Bangkok to Buenos Aires clutch their chests.
It sounds crazy that a gaucho would bet the ranch on whether the Badgers can cover the point spread against the Panthers.
But 12 million people gambled online in 2003, according to an American Gaming Association fact sheet, about 4.5 million from the United States and about 7.5 million from other countries.
That's a drop in the bucket in terms of the global population, but a bucket full of trouble nonetheless.
Too many gamblers have too crushing an interest in the games, leading to a great deal of institutional nervousness about the integrity of the sport.
Gambling's global tentacles, the NCAA fears, make it all the more likely that a player will be bribed, blackmailed or simply tempted into manipulating the outcome of a game.
So how does it happen that five of the eight teams with a No. 2 or No. 3 seed don't make it to the Sweet 16?
No, not saying the fix was in.
But see how easy it is to doubt?
There's not a thing the NCAA, the federal government or the courts can do about it. Online gaming sites are registered outside U.S. jurisdiction, and a federal law prohibiting sports bets over telephone lines is outdated, inadequate and practically unenforceable.
Meanwhile, online wagering is getting easier all the time.
New software lets bettors put down wagers without cash, checks or credit cards, instead moving currency via computers, cell phones and personal electronic devices.
Gamblers can make bets before or during games, on scores or statistics. They can even set up head-to-head wagers with another bettor, using third-party payment companies.
The Off Shore Gaming Association, which helps monitor the industry, warns bettors in an article posted on its Web site to beware. Be smart. Do the research. Know the basics.
Watch out for teams that are public favorites that don't cover the spread very well.
Gonzaga, it warned before the tournament, won, but did not cover on at least 12 occasions.
St. John's, on the other hand, was the worst team on the court this season that was great for bettors. It had a 9-18 record, but was 15-7-2 against the spread.
Other tips from the article: Check to see how close to home (or close to a rival) tournament games will be played; or how a team has done as an underdog as opposed to as a favorite, and vice versa.
Better yet, try my tip: Skip the homework. Just don't bet the chalet, the sampan or the ranch.
You'll lose.
That, you can bet on.
