AP
Do you participate in a March Madness pool at work?
Auto sales manager Hugh Okoye is very familiar with NCAA basketball tournament betting pools -- in which participants throw in a few bucks or more, then try to pick the winners of the tournament games.
"This is probably the only dealership I've ever worked at that doesn't have one," said Okoye, sales manager at Paradise Ford in Cocoa.
But Okoye has participated in the pool at various other companies he's worked at -- a March tradition now going on at workplaces throughout the country, as the tournament begins today.
Billions of dollars are bet on the NCAA tournament. One study also cites the tourney as the cause of nearly $890 million in lost productivity at U.S. companies during the next three weeks, as employees watch the games rather than do their jobs.
You probably think those tournament bracket sheets being run off at the office copy machine this week are part of a harmless exercise in frivolous wagering.
Don't bet on it.
As popular as they are, and as harmless as they appear to be, paying $1, $5 or $10 to fill out a NCAA bracket sheet guessing who will be college basketball's No. 1 team still is considered illegal gambling -- although not likely to be a top enforcement priority for police. In Florida, it's a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a maximum $500 fine.
"The overall general rule is that you cannot do any type of sports betting in Florida," Assistant State Attorney Wayne Holmes said. "It's something you do at your own risk, because you could face charges for if it was brought to the attention of law enforcement."
Holmes said it's up to law-enforcement officials to monitor the betting, something police acknowledge is next to impossible when it comes to office pools.
"It's pretty tough," said Maj. Doug Potts of the Palm Bay Police Department. "Unless someone came forward and made a complaint, we'd probably never even know it was going on."
And, added Potts, if the department ever did receive a complaint about an office pool, he'd probably issue a warning.
"Clearly, that's a much-better enforcement technique," he said.
The NCAA men's basketball tournament begins today with a "play-in" game between Alabama A&M and Oakland, the two lowest-seeded teams of the 65 that qualified; gets into full gear with 16 games both Thursday and Friday; and concludes with the championship game April 4 in St. Louis.
In office pools, people generally pay for a bracket sheet, and then pick the teams they expect to win, down to one team. The method of bracket scoring varies, but, generally, the bettor who picks the most teams who get into the Final Four and picks the overall winner goes home with the pool of cash.
Although there aren't any official statistics to back it up, the NCAA men's basketball tournament is one of the more popular events both for novice, low-level wagering and big-time gamblers.
It's right up there with those Super Bowl betting squares -- also illegal -- you find at parties on Super Bowl Sunday.
"It's the second-busiest time for sports betting next to the Super Bowl," said Lee Jesilow, director of player development for SunCruz Casinos' gambling ships -- one of which sails out of Port Canaveral. "It's bigger than the World Series. It's bigger than the NBA finals."
If you've plunked down $5 for a bracket sheet, well, you're involved in a multibillion-dollar labyrinth of illegal betting.
Office pools, and interest in the NCAA basketball tournament, also are a worker-productivity issue.
A recent study by New York-based global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. estimated the three weeks of the tournament will end up draining $889.6 million from U.S. companies.
That's because workers -- including college basketball fanatics and casual participants in office betting pools -- will spend an "inordinate amount" of time monitoring their favorite teams.
In 2003, Internet-monitoring software maker Websense Inc. estimated that college hoops fans spend about 90 minutes a week on college basketball Web sites during the tournament.
"That figure has the potential to jump significantly this year, as workers have the opportunity to watch games right from their desks," said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
At Melbourne-based Harris Corp., such betting on college games and offices pools are "not something we worry about," said company spokesman Tom Hausman. "Does it happen? I am sure it does. But it's not something we devote a lot of time and attention to."
As to company policies that address such actions, Harris' only policy is that "time and Harris resources are supposed to be devoted to the business of the company."
That pretty much mirrors the policy at Space Coast Credit Union, said Donna Carson, vice president of human resources. The credit union has a no-gambling-on-the-premises policy and, every so often, employees' e-mails will be monitored to see if it's occurring.
As for the NCAA basketball pool, Carson said, "At some informal level, it still goes on, but we certainly don't condone it."
As for Okoye, he said, even if he found a tournament pool to get into this year, he wouldn't.
He has quit participating in NCAA basketball office pools after losing one time too many.
"I don't like to lose," Okoye said.
