dbackjon wrote:
If you allow legal wagering on college games, that makes the possibility of fixing games that much easier.
It does? How so? If the gambling is legal, the state can fiercely regulate it through commissions and the like. Everything goes underground if it's illegal and it's more likely to be controlled by criminal elements.
How is the NCAA saying that illegal sports gambling is fine? Far from it.
Because they are only trying to punish states that have legal sports gambling. They are doing nothing to states where illegal sports gambling is rampant. As I said, outlawing sports gambling doesn't get rid of sports gambling. It seems to me that Montana & Delaware (& Nevada) are effectively being punished simply for admitting that sports gambling exists in their states.
And yes, perception is a big part of the issue.
A few more point shaving scandals, and you could see the end of college athletics as we know it.
I know it is easy to bash the NCAA, but they are trying to keep from killing the Goose that lays the golden egg (March Madness).
And how does this policy prevent the possibility of point shaving scandals? It's not like point shaving couldn't easily happen even if sports betting was banned nationwide. Perception does matter, but only if the NCAA policy is actually effective, and I don't see how this policy could really be effective.
In my opinion the NCAA would be better served by policing the people they have control over (players, coaches, refs, etc.) and not poking around in the affairs of things they have little control over—like state government affairs.