NCAA's Fear Realized: Lawson Admits To Gambling at Detroit Casino

The NCAA always has put up a public front about their feelings towards gambling on their sport. They despise the idea publicly, but they must know somewhere deep in their brains that the gambling is what drives their popularity.

So how will the powers-that-be respond to Thursday's admission by North Carolina star point guard Ty Lawson that one of the first things he did when the plane touched down in Detroit was go to the Greektown Casino.

Recently, the NCAA threatened the state of Delaware, telling lawmakers that if they approved legalized sports gambling in the state, the state would no longer be eligible to hold any post-season college athletic events.

A couple of weeks after that threat, the NCAA had four college basketball teams shipped off to Detroit for the Final Four. When agreeing to host the Final Four in Detroit, the NCAA knew the city had the lure of casinos. according to Lawson, Wednesday was not the only time he and his teammates have gone on gambling excursions.

"The only time I lost was in Reno. That's when everybody on the team lost," said Lawson at a Final Four news conference on Thursday, "It's the only place I lost. The other five or six times I did gamble, I won at least $500. Last night, it was all craps. It was like within an hour."

And just like that, the NCAA had a controversy. One of their star players openly admitting to gambling while on team road trips. It is the type story that NCAA officials would have loved to sweep under the carpet.

The NCAA is much like the NFL in that they turn their back on gambling and pretend it does not exist. They both publicly exclaim their disapproval, but then chase the dollar signs when a city with casinos comes up to host an event such as the Final Four.

If the NCAA really cared about their student-athletes and the negative effects of gambling, whether it be sports or casino gambling, then they would not place these eighteen to twenty four year olds in harms way.

They would never make the decision to hold their Final Four in Las Vegas, so why then Detroit? Miles Brand justified the move of placing the Final Four in Detroit by claiming at a news conference that while it is not against the rules for these athletes to gamble, the NCAA discourages it.

Lawson will be made to look like the exception to the rule by the NCAA. They will say in coming days that the players must make good choices, and that they cannot monitor every action a player makes.

They could, however, have known of the potential danger of bringing a Final Four to a city with three casinos, and tried to protect their players a little better.

April 2, 2009
Posted By Vincent Tapoglia III
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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