Like the spinning cherries on a slot machine, one story after another has popped up this year of athletes and their gambling escapades.
In February there were the allegations that Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet ran a gambling ring. Last month hockey player Darren McCarty filed for bankruptcy, revealing he had almost $200,000 in gambling debts.
Then golfer John Daly claimed in his new book that he has lost as much as $60 million betting, and former NBA great Charles Barkley admitted wagering away $10 million.
But even as each individual story fades from the headlines, the constant drumbeat of these reports have left some to wonder: Is gambling the next looming sports scandal?
Officials of all the major sports leagues recently told the Mercury News that they are vigilant in guarding against the influence of gambling, and that they don't see evidence of a wider problem.
Some compulsive gambling experts, however, say sports executives are ignoring the warning signs.
``This is going to explode,' said Arnie Wexler, who operates a New Jersey problem gambling hotline. ``This is another steroid situation. Just wait two years and you'll see.'
Wagering certainly is more socially acceptable than ever. Examples include the poker craze that has penetrated pop culture and the office pool phenomenon during March Madness.
And athletes who bet in casinos aren't violating the rules of their sports, even if the sums they lose sometimes defy common sense.
``I like to gamble,' Barkley told ESPN. ``It's really nobody's business because it's my money. I earned it.'
Barkley, who said he has never bet on basketball, is correct. But sports figures face greater scrutiny when they gamble because of the potential harm to the integrity of their games. If an athlete loses big, he might be tempted to recoup the loses by betting on his sport, or worse, shave points or throw games.
Wexler recalled a recent ESPN show he did with Dennis Rodman, who said while many athletes gamble, they're not betting on sports.
Baloney, Wexler said.
``If they get in trouble and they need a bailout, they're going to go to what they know best,' he added. ``And that's their own sport. Just like Pete Rose.'
Sports and gambling have a complicated relationship. Wagering, for instance, is one reason the NFL has become America's most popular sport. Yet leagues are worried enough about close ties with gambling that the booming metropolis of Las Vegas still doesn't have a major sports franchise.
There is also the long history of gambling scandals: The 1919 Black Sox; various college basketball point-shaving incidents; and Rose, who finally admitted in 2004 that he bet on baseball.
In recent years, a string of revelations have hinted at just how prevalent high-stakes gambling is among athletes.
In 2003, NHL star Jaromir Jagr reportedly was about $500,000 in debt to an online gambling site. In 2000, NBA player Charles Oakley slapped Tyrone Hill in the face and hurled basketballs at him before a game over $60,000 Hill owed from a dice game.
Michael Jordan, without providing details, recently discussed on ``60 Minutes' gambling tendencies that were an issue when he played.
``It's one of the things that you totally regret. . . . You look at yourself in the mirror and say, `I was really stupid,' ' he said.
Jordan's late father, James, once defended his son by saying he didn't have a gambling problem: ``What Michael has is a competition problem.'
This is exactly why athletes are susceptible to gambling addiction, said Garry Smith, a gambling research specialist at the University of Alberta.
``They think they are more skilled even when skills have nothing to do it,' he added. ``You are not going to beat a casino.'
They also can afford to drop thousands. Still, the amount Daly claims to have lost is staggering -- and perhaps an exaggeration to spice up his book. The PGA Tour's Web site indicates he has career earnings of about $8.8 million.
After earning $750,000 last October when he lost a playoff to Tiger Woods at the American Express Championship in San Francisco, Daly drove to Las Vegas. He claims to have lost $1.65 million in five hours, mostly on $5,000 slot machines.
And Daly was doing nothing wrong -- except hurting his own bank account.
``As far as gambling in a casino, there is not any sport or any job that can stop you from gambling there,' said Horace Balmer, the former NBA vice president of security. ``Do you feel sorry for the person? Yes, you do. But that is their personal choice.'
Just how much gambling there is among athletes remains anybody's guess. Wexler and Henry Lesieur, a leading gambling researcher, say they have counseled multiple professional athletes. Lesieur said he knows of one small-time college basketball player who threw a game to wipe out a $20,000 debt with a bookmaker. Wexler said he's aware of one active pro athlete who gambles on his own sport.
Wexler, a recovering compulsive gambler, said leagues have little interest in dealing with the problem.
``You don't hear them talking about gambling because it's the forbidden fruit,' he said. ``If a player is caught gambling, it destroys their whole industry. But now it's starting to hit them in the face.'
Officials from all the major sports leagues and player unions said they go to great lengths to educate athletes. All have seminars -- particularly with rookies -- about the risks.
``If anybody was found to be betting on an NBA game, that would be one of our biggest sins,' NBA spokesman Tim Frank said. ``In the Barkley case, he is talking about cards and roulette. But it is always a concern.'
PGA Tour spokesman Bob Combs said officials took Daly's claims seriously enough for Commissioner Tim Finchem to talk with the golfer and offer him help. But because there is ``zero evidence' that Daly -- or anybody else on the Tour, for that matter -- has gambled on golf, it doesn't violate PGA rules.
Combs said the public separates Daly's foibles from the PGA Tour.
``It is clear they see John as a human being who has grappled with a number of issues,' Combs said.
But one baseball official, who asked not to be identified, acknowledged that a betting scandal would devastate his sport. (Baseball was jittery last year over reports that Yankees star Alex Rodriguez had played in underground poker games, although doing so is legal.) Imagine, the official said, if the Tocchet investigation -- which includes Janet Jones, the wife of Coyotes Coach Wayne Gretzky -- occurred in his game.
``Had Cal Ripken's wife been caught, it would have been bigger,' he said. ``Baseball is held to a different standard.'
In the NHL, McCarty, the player who filed for bankruptcy, has stressed that none of his debts are related to sports betting. He called it an embarrassing situation, but ``as things always are, there's more to it than what it seems.'
Sports officials have to be hoping that when it comes to gambling in their leagues, that's not the case.
Source : Mercury News
