Ncaa E Gambling

The rise in youth gambling and campus bookmaking also means an increased threat to college sports, experts warned NCAA college administrators.

“There’s potential for bribery or extortion to affect the outcome of the game,” said Thomas French, a New York-based FBI supervisory special agent. “There’s a vulnerability there to be compromised.”

French and a former mobster described how athletes are lured into giving gamblers inside information or point-shaving and throwing games during a workshop Monday at the NCAA convention.

“Gambling at a young level, from what I’m seeing, is becoming a lot more prevalent,” said Michael Franzese, a captain in the Colombo crime family who broke from the mob in the late 1980s while serving a 10-year federal racketeering sentence.

“It’s not a new problem, but it’s proliferating,” said French, adding that it can be hard to detect because organized crime uses student bookies and recruits roommates, fraternity brothers and school employees to provide valuable inside information on athletes and teams.

Franzese, who was involved in a variety of mob operations including gambling, gives talks about the problem for the NBA and Major League Baseball. He meets with rookies in both sports and said he’s amazed at how many have placed bets and at their knowledge of campus bookmaking operations.

He and French said it appears nearly every major college has a bookmaking operation on or near the campus.

Bill Saum, the NCAA’s representative on agents and gambling, said a 1996 NCAA-sponsored survey of Division I men’s basketball and football players indicated that as many as 25 percent bet on college sports and nearly 4 percent bet on their own teams.

The NCAA has taken a stand against all sports gambling, legal and illegal, and has increased education efforts and toughened penalties. Saum urged Monday that coaches and other college sports officials refrain from discussing point spreads.

Franzese and French, an FBI agent for nearly 30 years who promotes gambling awareness, said the growing national availability and acceptance of gambling - along with the affluence of many students - has increased the campus problem.

“You have to be vigilant” he said. “They’re going to bring embarrassment to your university.”

He urged colleges to make sure their coaches, administrators and security officers are aware of the potential problems and to meet with police to learn about people and places for athletes to avoid.