If you watch any sporting event live on television then you've seen them ... the ads from online gambling sites enticing you to place your bets. Heck, you can even place bets for free. Am I right Kevin Hart?
The growth of sports gambling has exploded since a 2018 Supreme Court ruling struck down a law banning commercial sports betting. It didn't take long for state legislatures to pick up the mantle and start passing laws legalizing sports wagering in their states.
"Ever since the Supreme Court ruling, we're seeing a pretty significant rise in just access," said Devin Mills, a professor at Texas Tech whose research focuses on gambling problems. "Having increased access to something that used to take you a little more time or with a little bit more work has dramatically increased your risk for more problem gambling."
It turns out, Americans love to bet on sports. I mean, they REALLY love to bet on sports. In 2021, the American Gaming Association reported $4.3 billion were wagered in the U.S. on sporting events. That number grew to $7.5 billion in 2022. And with more states looking to add legalized sports betting (including a bill working its way through the Texas legislature), that number will only grow this year and in years to come.
"The vast majority of Texans and the vast majority of adults in the United States gamble, they gamble recreationally," said Mills. "A lot of people just do it a few times, and they do it. And that's it. But for a very small portion of individuals gambling becomes very problematic."
But while changes to the law have fueled the rapid growth, it does not account for the law of unintended consequences.
Meet the unintended consequences.
Alabama fired its head baseball coach Brad Bohannon just three days after an ESPN report raised questions about "suspicious wagering activity" surrounding Alabama baseball games.
ESPN reported that an independent monitor flagged two bets that were placed on LSU to beat Alabama in their April 28 game. Alabama scratched its starting pitcher shortly before the game, which LSU won 8-6.
The bets were placed at a sportsbook in Cincinnati, Ohio. ESPN, citing what it says are "multiple sources with direct information," says surveillance video from the sportsbook indicated that the person who placed the bets was communicating with Bohannon at the time.
The University of Alabama says no student athletes were involved in the suspicious gambling activity which led to Bohanon's dismissal. The same cannot be said in Iowa.
More than two dozen athletes across five sports at Iowa are being investigated and more than a dozen across three sports at Iowa State.
The Associated Press reported that Brian Ohorilko, director of gaming for the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, told the AP that his office was monitoring an investigation of gambling among athletes at the two schools being conducted by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. Ohorilko added that he knows of no evidence indicating match fixing or suspicious wagering activity on contests involving Iowa or Iowa State.
NCAA rules prohibit student athletes and athletic department personnel from gambling on any type of sport the NCAA governs, college or professional. The NCAA rules are pretty clear: "types of sport wagers that violate NCAA rules include, but are not limited to, fantasy leagues, March Madness brackets, Super Bowl squares, Calcuttas, sports pools, online sports bets, sports betting apps, parlay and prop bets, live in-game betting and single-game sports bets."
The Iowa Board of Regents issued a statement saying it will, "fully cooperate with any investigations related to these concerns. We are closely monitoring the situation and have confidence that university administrators at each institution will take all necessary steps to ensure ongoing compliance."
But the truth is, the universities probably have no idea whether their student athletes are gambling on games or not.
"I wouldn't be surprised if 80 plus percent of kids are betting," said former Congressman Tom McMillen. McMillen is now the Chief Executive Officer of the LEAD1 Association which represents athletic directors and programs within the Football Bowl Subdivision. "If you ask any of our ADs if their student athletes are betting, they have no idea."
The NCAA conducted a study in 2017 that reported 24 percent of male athletes bet on sports. That study was conducted before states were able to legalize gambling. It's now much easier for student athletes to log on and place a bet.
"We've seen three incidents of Alabama, Iowa, and Iowa State," said McMillen. "I think you're gonna see hundreds by the time you know, all this has really unraveled."
All of which raises the question, are the college games you're watching being manipulated? Or are they on the level?
IT'S A QUESTION OF INTEGRITY
Baseball has a history of gambling being a problem.
Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball for placing bets on games in which he was the manager.
And going even further back, the 1919 Chicago White Sox were the overwhelming favorites to beat the Cincinnati Red for the World Series. However, nine Sox players took payouts from gambler Arnold Rothstein to tank the series and lose.
I'm sure it's just a coincidence that all three events have Cincinnati connections. Or maybe someone in Cincinnati did something to upset the gambling gods and the good people of the Queen City are still paying for it. Rose couldn't have helped things when he became the first person to place a legal sports wager after gambling was legalized in Ohio. Talk about thumbing your nose at those gambling gods.
Rose being able to place a legal bet shows just how much the times have changed, and gambling has evolved well beyond the days of Rostein and the Black Sox.
"People just don't bet like they did in the early 1900s anymore," said Mills. "Whether or not any violations or the gambling has impacted the integrity of game beyond just them violating the code of conduct, I think that's going to be a very tricky question to address."
Technology has made it not only easier to bet, but it makes it easier for gambling sites to offer side bets on everything from whether a kicker makes a field goal to yardage totals or even the length of a game.
"They're betting on everything," said McMillen. "Those things are easily manipulated because they probably won't affect the outcome. But they are a part of the betting world today."
The same 2017 NCAA study cited above showed that 13 percent of male athletes had participated in ingame betting. Even the NCAA acknowledges those bets are more easily "fixed" because the athletes themselves have a greater control of the outcome. Of course, that also makes student athletes more vulnerable to shady gamblers attempting to manipulate those bets, especially student athletes who develop a gambling problem.
COLLEGE CAMPUS GAMBLING
College campuses in particular are targeted by gambling sites for new customer acquisition.
The Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education released a study saying that college students, including athletes, are particularly susceptible to developing gambling addictions. They cite what the researcher calls "The Five A's" to draw that conclusion.
Age: College students are young and therefore more likely to engage in a wide range of risky behaviors.
Availability: Wide-scale access to legal gambling, including online.
Acceptability: Gambling has been integrated into the mainstream, eroding social taboos. It is even a part of some university campuses (more on that later).
Advertising: Ads target college students in both broadcasting and niche advertising campaigns.
Access: Many kids have access to funds, even from student loans or through credit card solicitations which are ubiquitous on campuses.
Although most states prohibit casino gambling for anyone under 21, it is easier to get around those restrictions online.
The International Center for Responsible Gambling says about six percent of college students report having a serious problem with gambling.
At least eight universities have struck sponsorship deals with online gambling sites, putting their product front and center on university campuses.
Caesars struck seven figure deals with LSU and Michigan State to become the official sportsbook of the universities.
TCU struck a deal with Winstar World Resorts to be the naming sponsor of their club suites at the football stadium.
And the New York Times discovered that Colorado struck a unique deal with PointsBet. Every time someone downloads the app and uses the university's promo code, CU collects $30.
The deal drew swift rebukes from some faculty who complained that CU was contributing to people developing gambling problems. But that kind of money will put athletic department budgets in the Prime Time.
IS THERE A SOLUTION?
The prevalence of gambling on college campuses makes it particularly hard for university compliance offices to keep up with what their student athletes are doing.
"I know the compliance folks are working very hard," said McMillen. "It's expensive for schools. I mean, here's the schools have to pay for this and the sports betting people are making all the money."
McMillen says the best way for colleges and universities to monitor online gambling and fully fund their compliance departments is to follow the lead of the NFL.
"Data is one area that can be very lucrative and not necessarily compromised," said McMillen.
The NFL agreed to a deal with a London-based data and technology firm, Genius Sports. The deal allows them to distribute real-time play-by-play stats, the league's "Next Gen Stats," and provide sports betting data feeds to media companies and betting firms around the globe.
"The data comes right from the game, it's the official tie-in," said McMillen. "The reason why that's important is because a lot of times television has latency, it can be many, many seconds of latency. That data is instantaneous and it goes right in to the sportsbooks. That's what the NFL does. The NBA sells their official data. That's an area they (schools) could monetize and that's not necessarily compromising.
"We hear from our schools that the compliance integrity issue is very expensive. It's very unfair that our schools have to go and protect themselves against this industry when the other parties are making the money."
In other words, McMillen is advocating using gambling money to beef up compliance offices to ensure student athletes aren't gambling. Of course it wouldn't be the first time states have resorted to such tactics. So-called "sin taxes" on things such as cigarettes and alcohol account for large percentages of tax receipts.
Texas' sin tax collections reached $3.8 billion in 2015, accounting for 7.3 percent of all tax collections and 3.5 percent of total state revenue. And Texas voters approved a state lottery, largely on the promise that tax revenue from the lottery would help fund schools.
"Money needs to go to these athletic departments to so that they can pay for compliance," said McMillen.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
For now, we play the waiting game. The investigations into the Iowa and Iowa State University players has to play out. I'm sure there will be investigations into the Alabama baseball coach as well. The other thing we need to wait for is to see any more incidents of gambling on college sports comes to light.
But if I were a gambling man, I would bet they do. And each time it happens, we're left to wonder, is what we're seeing on the playing field each week really a fair competition?
GOING OUT IN STYLE
Texas baseball has a chance to wrap up its regular season in style.
The Horns are at home for the final six games with a three game series against San Jose State and then they wrap up conference play next week against Big 12 leaders West Virginia.
A regular season Big 12 title is out of reach now with the Horns four games back from the Mountaineers, but there is still one goal that is not yet completely out of reach ... hosting a regional in the postseason tournament.
I know, I know. The odds of Texas getting to be a regional host are slim. But if they can get hot at home and then win the Big 12 conference tournament then they will get to play more games at home in the tournament. Plus, UT isn't that far out of being a top 16 seed. D1 Baseball has Texas as the two seed in the Dallas Baptist regional. DBU is the 15th overall seed which means Texas is the second two seed (Tennessee is the top two seed).
Texas is obviously a much stronger team at home going 23-7 on the year and San Jose State isn't exactly the 1927 Yankees. But if this year has taught Texas fans anything, it's that you never know which Horns team will show up. Will it be the team that is the best pitching team in the conference? Or will it be the team that has blown games with base on balls?
We may not know which team will show up this weekend, but 50 games into the season, we have learned a thing or two about the Horns.
Heading into the season, we talked about the fact that this is a team with a lot of new players and a lot of young players. Some of those young players have grown up quickly and become budding stars.
Jared Thomas has turned into someone head coach David Pierce can rely on game in and game out.
The freshman first baseman has risen to the challenge and is batting .312 on the year. And it's not just that he's hitting, he's coming through with some clutch hitting late in the season. In short, he's experiencing the kind of growth that will make him indispensable for this Longhorn team moving into next year and the year after.
Thomas' production has also helped out another key contributor to the Horns team ... Dylan Campbell, the most consistent hitter to ever lace them up on the 40 Acres.
The right fielder now holds the longest batting streak in UT history (it's now 27 games and counting).
Prior to the start of the streak, Campbell was hitting .229. Now he's up to .319 with nine homers and 34 RBI.
Campbell was helped out greatly by moving down to the third spot in the order where he has protection from Peyton Powell ahead of him and Garrett Guillemette behind him.
The hitting streak is impressive (historic and impressive), but I've been just as impressed with Campbell's defense.
This really is not a bad Texas team. It's not a great Texas team either (as Pierce himself has stated). But there's no reason, if the pitchers throw strikes, that they can't get hot late and make a run at hosting a regional. *IF* they were to pull that off, I think this would go down as a successful season.
The growth of sports gambling has exploded since a 2018 Supreme Court ruling struck down a law banning commercial sports betting. It didn't take long for state legislatures to pick up the mantle and start passing laws legalizing sports wagering in their states.
"Ever since the Supreme Court ruling, we're seeing a pretty significant rise in just access," said Devin Mills, a professor at Texas Tech whose research focuses on gambling problems. "Having increased access to something that used to take you a little more time or with a little bit more work has dramatically increased your risk for more problem gambling."
It turns out, Americans love to bet on sports. I mean, they REALLY love to bet on sports. In 2021, the American Gaming Association reported $4.3 billion were wagered in the U.S. on sporting events. That number grew to $7.5 billion in 2022. And with more states looking to add legalized sports betting (including a bill working its way through the Texas legislature), that number will only grow this year and in years to come.
"The vast majority of Texans and the vast majority of adults in the United States gamble, they gamble recreationally," said Mills. "A lot of people just do it a few times, and they do it. And that's it. But for a very small portion of individuals gambling becomes very problematic."
But while changes to the law have fueled the rapid growth, it does not account for the law of unintended consequences.
Meet the unintended consequences.
Alabama fired its head baseball coach Brad Bohannon just three days after an ESPN report raised questions about "suspicious wagering activity" surrounding Alabama baseball games.
ESPN reported that an independent monitor flagged two bets that were placed on LSU to beat Alabama in their April 28 game. Alabama scratched its starting pitcher shortly before the game, which LSU won 8-6.
The bets were placed at a sportsbook in Cincinnati, Ohio. ESPN, citing what it says are "multiple sources with direct information," says surveillance video from the sportsbook indicated that the person who placed the bets was communicating with Bohannon at the time.
The University of Alabama says no student athletes were involved in the suspicious gambling activity which led to Bohanon's dismissal. The same cannot be said in Iowa.
More than two dozen athletes across five sports at Iowa are being investigated and more than a dozen across three sports at Iowa State.
The Associated Press reported that Brian Ohorilko, director of gaming for the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, told the AP that his office was monitoring an investigation of gambling among athletes at the two schools being conducted by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. Ohorilko added that he knows of no evidence indicating match fixing or suspicious wagering activity on contests involving Iowa or Iowa State.
NCAA rules prohibit student athletes and athletic department personnel from gambling on any type of sport the NCAA governs, college or professional. The NCAA rules are pretty clear: "types of sport wagers that violate NCAA rules include, but are not limited to, fantasy leagues, March Madness brackets, Super Bowl squares, Calcuttas, sports pools, online sports bets, sports betting apps, parlay and prop bets, live in-game betting and single-game sports bets."
The Iowa Board of Regents issued a statement saying it will, "fully cooperate with any investigations related to these concerns. We are closely monitoring the situation and have confidence that university administrators at each institution will take all necessary steps to ensure ongoing compliance."
But the truth is, the universities probably have no idea whether their student athletes are gambling on games or not.
"I wouldn't be surprised if 80 plus percent of kids are betting," said former Congressman Tom McMillen. McMillen is now the Chief Executive Officer of the LEAD1 Association which represents athletic directors and programs within the Football Bowl Subdivision. "If you ask any of our ADs if their student athletes are betting, they have no idea."
The NCAA conducted a study in 2017 that reported 24 percent of male athletes bet on sports. That study was conducted before states were able to legalize gambling. It's now much easier for student athletes to log on and place a bet.
"We've seen three incidents of Alabama, Iowa, and Iowa State," said McMillen. "I think you're gonna see hundreds by the time you know, all this has really unraveled."
All of which raises the question, are the college games you're watching being manipulated? Or are they on the level?
IT'S A QUESTION OF INTEGRITY
Baseball has a history of gambling being a problem.
Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball for placing bets on games in which he was the manager.
And going even further back, the 1919 Chicago White Sox were the overwhelming favorites to beat the Cincinnati Red for the World Series. However, nine Sox players took payouts from gambler Arnold Rothstein to tank the series and lose.
I'm sure it's just a coincidence that all three events have Cincinnati connections. Or maybe someone in Cincinnati did something to upset the gambling gods and the good people of the Queen City are still paying for it. Rose couldn't have helped things when he became the first person to place a legal sports wager after gambling was legalized in Ohio. Talk about thumbing your nose at those gambling gods.
Rose being able to place a legal bet shows just how much the times have changed, and gambling has evolved well beyond the days of Rostein and the Black Sox.
"People just don't bet like they did in the early 1900s anymore," said Mills. "Whether or not any violations or the gambling has impacted the integrity of game beyond just them violating the code of conduct, I think that's going to be a very tricky question to address."
Technology has made it not only easier to bet, but it makes it easier for gambling sites to offer side bets on everything from whether a kicker makes a field goal to yardage totals or even the length of a game.
"They're betting on everything," said McMillen. "Those things are easily manipulated because they probably won't affect the outcome. But they are a part of the betting world today."
The same 2017 NCAA study cited above showed that 13 percent of male athletes had participated in ingame betting. Even the NCAA acknowledges those bets are more easily "fixed" because the athletes themselves have a greater control of the outcome. Of course, that also makes student athletes more vulnerable to shady gamblers attempting to manipulate those bets, especially student athletes who develop a gambling problem.
COLLEGE CAMPUS GAMBLING
College campuses in particular are targeted by gambling sites for new customer acquisition.
The Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education released a study saying that college students, including athletes, are particularly susceptible to developing gambling addictions. They cite what the researcher calls "The Five A's" to draw that conclusion.
Age: College students are young and therefore more likely to engage in a wide range of risky behaviors.
Availability: Wide-scale access to legal gambling, including online.
Acceptability: Gambling has been integrated into the mainstream, eroding social taboos. It is even a part of some university campuses (more on that later).
Advertising: Ads target college students in both broadcasting and niche advertising campaigns.
Access: Many kids have access to funds, even from student loans or through credit card solicitations which are ubiquitous on campuses.
Although most states prohibit casino gambling for anyone under 21, it is easier to get around those restrictions online.
The International Center for Responsible Gambling says about six percent of college students report having a serious problem with gambling.
At least eight universities have struck sponsorship deals with online gambling sites, putting their product front and center on university campuses.
Caesars struck seven figure deals with LSU and Michigan State to become the official sportsbook of the universities.
TCU struck a deal with Winstar World Resorts to be the naming sponsor of their club suites at the football stadium.
And the New York Times discovered that Colorado struck a unique deal with PointsBet. Every time someone downloads the app and uses the university's promo code, CU collects $30.
The deal drew swift rebukes from some faculty who complained that CU was contributing to people developing gambling problems. But that kind of money will put athletic department budgets in the Prime Time.
IS THERE A SOLUTION?
The prevalence of gambling on college campuses makes it particularly hard for university compliance offices to keep up with what their student athletes are doing.
"I know the compliance folks are working very hard," said McMillen. "It's expensive for schools. I mean, here's the schools have to pay for this and the sports betting people are making all the money."
McMillen says the best way for colleges and universities to monitor online gambling and fully fund their compliance departments is to follow the lead of the NFL.
"Data is one area that can be very lucrative and not necessarily compromised," said McMillen.
The NFL agreed to a deal with a London-based data and technology firm, Genius Sports. The deal allows them to distribute real-time play-by-play stats, the league's "Next Gen Stats," and provide sports betting data feeds to media companies and betting firms around the globe.
"The data comes right from the game, it's the official tie-in," said McMillen. "The reason why that's important is because a lot of times television has latency, it can be many, many seconds of latency. That data is instantaneous and it goes right in to the sportsbooks. That's what the NFL does. The NBA sells their official data. That's an area they (schools) could monetize and that's not necessarily compromising.
"We hear from our schools that the compliance integrity issue is very expensive. It's very unfair that our schools have to go and protect themselves against this industry when the other parties are making the money."
In other words, McMillen is advocating using gambling money to beef up compliance offices to ensure student athletes aren't gambling. Of course it wouldn't be the first time states have resorted to such tactics. So-called "sin taxes" on things such as cigarettes and alcohol account for large percentages of tax receipts.
Texas' sin tax collections reached $3.8 billion in 2015, accounting for 7.3 percent of all tax collections and 3.5 percent of total state revenue. And Texas voters approved a state lottery, largely on the promise that tax revenue from the lottery would help fund schools.
"Money needs to go to these athletic departments to so that they can pay for compliance," said McMillen.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
For now, we play the waiting game. The investigations into the Iowa and Iowa State University players has to play out. I'm sure there will be investigations into the Alabama baseball coach as well. The other thing we need to wait for is to see any more incidents of gambling on college sports comes to light.
But if I were a gambling man, I would bet they do. And each time it happens, we're left to wonder, is what we're seeing on the playing field each week really a fair competition?
GOING OUT IN STYLE
Texas baseball has a chance to wrap up its regular season in style.
The Horns are at home for the final six games with a three game series against San Jose State and then they wrap up conference play next week against Big 12 leaders West Virginia.
A regular season Big 12 title is out of reach now with the Horns four games back from the Mountaineers, but there is still one goal that is not yet completely out of reach ... hosting a regional in the postseason tournament.
I know, I know. The odds of Texas getting to be a regional host are slim. But if they can get hot at home and then win the Big 12 conference tournament then they will get to play more games at home in the tournament. Plus, UT isn't that far out of being a top 16 seed. D1 Baseball has Texas as the two seed in the Dallas Baptist regional. DBU is the 15th overall seed which means Texas is the second two seed (Tennessee is the top two seed).
Texas is obviously a much stronger team at home going 23-7 on the year and San Jose State isn't exactly the 1927 Yankees. But if this year has taught Texas fans anything, it's that you never know which Horns team will show up. Will it be the team that is the best pitching team in the conference? Or will it be the team that has blown games with base on balls?
We may not know which team will show up this weekend, but 50 games into the season, we have learned a thing or two about the Horns.
Heading into the season, we talked about the fact that this is a team with a lot of new players and a lot of young players. Some of those young players have grown up quickly and become budding stars.
Jared Thomas has turned into someone head coach David Pierce can rely on game in and game out.
The freshman first baseman has risen to the challenge and is batting .312 on the year. And it's not just that he's hitting, he's coming through with some clutch hitting late in the season. In short, he's experiencing the kind of growth that will make him indispensable for this Longhorn team moving into next year and the year after.
Thomas' production has also helped out another key contributor to the Horns team ... Dylan Campbell, the most consistent hitter to ever lace them up on the 40 Acres.
The right fielder now holds the longest batting streak in UT history (it's now 27 games and counting).
Prior to the start of the streak, Campbell was hitting .229. Now he's up to .319 with nine homers and 34 RBI.
Campbell was helped out greatly by moving down to the third spot in the order where he has protection from Peyton Powell ahead of him and Garrett Guillemette behind him.
The hitting streak is impressive (historic and impressive), but I've been just as impressed with Campbell's defense.
This really is not a bad Texas team. It's not a great Texas team either (as Pierce himself has stated). But there's no reason, if the pitchers throw strikes, that they can't get hot late and make a run at hosting a regional. *IF* they were to pull that off, I think this would go down as a successful season.
