The NCAA picked a hell of a week to get into the gambling business, didn’t it?
Within 24 hours of approving a rule change that will allow student athletes and athletic department staff to bet only on professional sports, the FBI arrested more than 30 people in connection with a major sports gambling and betting scheme. The level of sophistication alleged in one 22-page indictment reads like a Scorsese script with four New York Mafia families, a current NBA player and a head coach all allegedly involved.
For Adam Silver, commissioner of the NBA, the news and arrests are a public relations nightmare.
But for the NCAA, it’s a warning.
Since a 2018 Supreme Court ruling paved the way for sports betting, more than 35 states have legalized it, so I understand why the industry no longer feels dirty. But the governing body for more than half a million young athletes must remember nothing will ever sanitize that industry.