When it was discovered that a current NBA coach and player and a former player were involved in rigging games and betting on sports...allegedly, I knew it was just the tip of the iceberg. Now comes word from the NCAA that six college basketball players have been banned.
The six players from New Orleans, Mississippi Valley State, and Arizona State manipulated games or shared information with known bettors. Cedquavious Hunter, Dyquavion Short, and Jamond Vincent who played for New Orleans, manipulated their performance in seven games. Donovan Sanders and Alvin Stredic from Mississippi Valley State were offered money to throw a game and former Arizona State player BJ Freeman shared information with a former teammate who was betting on Freeman's performance on a daily fantasy site according to reports.
Say it with me...Uh Oh! Man this is so bad for the sports world and it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. ESPN just got rid of ESPN BET because it was beginning to look bad errrr I mean they failed to capture a significant share of the sports betting market. I have written less than twenty blogs here and the majority of them are about gambling...specifically sports betting and athletes being accused of rigging games and gambling.
So far I've written about Gilbert Arenas who got busted for running an illegal Israeli poker game out of his mansion.
Trevor Ariza blowing through over $115 million in career earnings...not sure if that was sports betting or just bad investments.
Marcus Morris who ran out on a $250,000 casino marker errrrr I mean he was going to pay it later according to his agent.
The latest NBA gambling scandal I mentioned above involving Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier, and Damon Jones.
Almost forgot Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter who decided to use Ohtani's bank account to settle his illegal gambling debts. People are still skeptical about this one like sure it was his interpreter...reminds me of when former Minnesota Vikings legend Chris Carter talked about having a "fall guy" in your crew to take the charges if you ever had a run in with police.
Now college basketball is dragged back into illegal gambling. College basketball is the easiest sport to rig which is probably why they can't keep their hands clean. Well, we'll see if more names or teams are announced in this latest black eye for the sports world. NCAA Commissioner Jim Phillips' hair is getting grayer by the second. Still think DraftKings and Fanduel was a good partnership NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell? How about you NBA Commissioner Adam Silver?
By the way, nothing against DraftKings or Fanduel, but you can't partner with gambling sites and be legit...It's one or the other. In this case not all advertising money is good money, just look at what has played out the last few months.