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Point Shaving Scandal Brewing At UTEP

Pilchard

Pilchard

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The FBI is now involved. Yipes. Here is the link to the story:
http://deadspin.com/it-looks-like-some-bad-shit-is-going-down-at-utep-1496263057?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow


How far has Tim Floyd's star fallen? 5 year NBA coach. Dumped from USC as the result of pay for play scandal, and now relegated to UTEP with a point-shaving scandal looming. UGLY.

BTW, UTEP played in the Bahamas in the same tourney as WF. Hope that the Deacs stayed far away from the Miners. UTEP beat Tennessee (who crushed WF) and almost beat KS on the Island. UTEP is 7-2 ATS this year; so, will be curious to find out the nature of the allegations.
 
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Why is point shaving a federal crime? I completely understand why it's bad enough for sports that NCAA and professional leagues say first time offense = banned for life. I get that. But is making money while screwing gamblers a bad enough thing that we as a society have made it a crime to make money for not giving 100% on the field?

I haven't given this any thought more than the 30 seconds it took to type this. Not arguing against it, just curious and looking for enlightenment.
 
Do you think insider trading should be illegal? That is probably a reasonable comparison.

It is not that you are just not giving 100%, you are intentionally influencing the final result and making money on that, causing others to lose money. My take is that as a point shaver, you are essentially stealing money from those that lose money. Stealing is a crime.
 
timthedeac said:
Why is point shaving a federal crime? I completely understand why it's bad enough for sports that NCAA and professional leagues say first time offense = banned for life. I get that. But is making money while screwing gamblers a bad enough thing that we as a society have made it a crime to make money for not giving 100% on the field?

I haven't given this any thought more than the 30 seconds it took to type this. Not arguing against it, just curious and looking for enlightenment.
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It's a federal crime because Congress passed the "Bribery in Sporting Contests" law (18 USC Section 224). IIRC, the law was initially passed in the wake of many point shaving scandals in the 1950s where organized crime figures paid college athletes to shave points. It got a lot of publicity, and congress passed a law making point shaving a federal crime (there are also many state laws that say the same thing). Technically, for the FBI to get involved (and federal law to be implicated) there must be some showing that point shaving "impacted interstate commerce" but that is a pretty easy standard to hit (the game involved teams from different states; money bet on the game was bet in a different state).

Here is a website that describes the federal law: http://www.shouselaw.com/nevada/federal-sports-bribery.html
 
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timthedeac said:
Why is point shaving a federal crime? I completely understand why it's bad enough for sports that NCAA and professional leagues say first time offense = banned for life. I get that. But is making money while screwing gamblers a bad enough thing that we as a society have made it a crime to make money for not giving 100% on the field?

I haven't given this any thought more than the 30 seconds it took to type this. Not arguing against it, just curious and looking for enlightenment.
Click to expand...

Gambling on sports is legal in the united states, and is mostly administered by publicly traded companies and without the feds, the Nevada attorney general doesn't have jurisdiction over UTEP.

Pretty much every higher institution across the country has real financial benefit to keeping college athletics legitimate. So that's two monetary reasons why it has to be under the jurisdiction of the feds.

Finally, it appears the country as a whole places high value in maintaining the integrity of sports, similar to congresses involvement in steriods in baseball.
 
Tobacco Road said:
Do you think insider trading should be illegal? That is probably a reasonable comparison.

It is not that you are just not giving 100%, you are intentionally influencing the final result and making money on that, causing others to lose money. My take is that as a point shaver, you are essentially stealing money from those that lose money. Stealing is a crime.
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It also crosses state lines usually, so there is a federal aspect to that as well.
 
Just waiting for ol' Roy to get nabbed for throwing Sunday night's game in an attempt to keep Bz on as head coach for a few more years.
 
RacerDeac said:
Because: Mafia

Actually, I don't know that for sure, but that's my first assumption.
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Pilchard said:
It's a federal crime because Congress passed the "Bribery in Sporting Contests" law (18 USC Section 224). IIRC, the law was initially passed in the wake of many point shaving scandals in the 1950s where organized crime figures paid college athletes to shave points.
Click to expand...

Cool. My assumption was correct.
 
timthedeac said:
Why is point shaving a federal crime? I completely understand why it's bad enough for sports that NCAA and professional leagues say first time offense = banned for life. I get that. But is making money while screwing gamblers a bad enough thing that we as a society have made it a crime to make money for not giving 100% on the field?

I haven't given this any thought more than the 30 seconds it took to type this. Not arguing against it, just curious and looking for enlightenment.
Click to expand...

Because if you were say a decent player on an NCAA tournament team and you are a senior (gonna play 20-25 minutes a game) and you are not going to play professionally, there would be loads of incentive to point shave if the crime simply would mean you could no longer play college ball if caught. Be like if the crime for stealing from a store was you had to return the merchandise.
 
qcdeac said:
Just waiting for ol' Roy to get nabbed for throwing Sunday night's game in an attempt to keep Bz on as head coach for a few more years.
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I've been telling people that I suspect that all of the other ACC coaches get together at the media day and draw straws to see who has to dump games to Bz during a particular season to help ensure his continued employment. Gottfried and Larranaga drew short straws last year; Roy clearly got one this year.
 
Mitt Shah

8 teams at 2013 Battle for Atlantis. I spent time in the casino that week. Only saw one group of players gambling. #JustSayinUTEP #Culture
 
Guess we can cross Tim Floyd off the list of potential replacement for Bz.
 
Has anyone asked Andy Enfield to comment?
 
siff said:
Thank you, puritanical 'Murica
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Laws against the people who are betted on betting themselves are legit.

Inside knowledge plays a role too. One of my best friends is an athletic training professor at a D-3 school and he can't do a March Madness pool or fantasy league for money because of potential inside knowledge.
 
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