With states legalizing sports gambling, it will be more important than ever for leagues, gamblers and law enforcement to keep the games honest. This will require vigilance, as even the best players are susceptible to gambling-related scandals.
The most recent gambling-related controversy to make headlines was Josh Shaw, an NFL cornerback that was suspended for the entire 2020 season over a legal bet placed in Las Vegas.
Mirage Sports Betting Scandal
The upcoming 2025 opening of the new Hard Rock hotel in Las Vegas will bring a new look to the Strip, but it won’t be the only change. The property will also be home to the rebranded Mirage sports book, which is already a center of controversy.
The bookmaker in question is CG Technology, which recently signed a recommended $5.5 million fine to settle a Nevada Gaming Control Board complaint over its boneheaded bookmaking practices. The casino’s vice president, Michael Colbert, was a prolific middle man for Kyrollos bettors, taking their wagers despite knowing they were illegal.
The sports betting scandal centers around Iowa State athletes, including football player Hunter Dekkers and basketball players Dodge Sauser, Paniro Johnson, and Ahron Ulis. All face charges of tampering with records, which could result in the forfeiture of their remaining NCAA eligibility. Tampering with records is an aggravated misdemeanor. Dekkers, Ulis, and Johnson are at risk of losing their final two seasons, while Ulis faces a potential ban from playing college basketball for up to five years.
Boston College Point-Shaving Scandal
The infamous college basketball point-shaving scandal of the 1970s is famous for one reason in particular: it drew the attention of mobster Henry Hill. Hill, made famous by Ray Liotta in the movie Goodfellas, served time in prison on drug trafficking charges before becoming a government informant and helping bring down this gambling syndicate.
Hill told authorities that he worked with Boston College players Jim Sweeney and Ernie Cobb to shave points in nine games during the 1978-1979 season. But the story doesn’t really add up. Hill and gamblers Anthony and Rocco Perla say they won hundreds of thousands of dollars, while Sweeney and Cobb insist they never accepted money.
Regardless of how much money was involved, the point-shaving scandal ruined the lives of its victims and tainted the reputation of collegiate athletics. It also helped lead to stricter NCAA rules on gambling and game-fixing. For these reasons, it remains among the biggest gambling scandals in sports history.
Lumiere Place Scandal
The Lumiere Place Scandal showed the potential for high-tech cheating in casinos. It also highlighted the importance of security and casino staff training. It’s one of the biggest gambling scandals in history.
The MIT Blackjack Team was a group of students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who used card counting and shuffle tracking to win millions of dollars at casinos around the world. Their success sparked a debate over the role of skill versus luck in casino gambling.
Tera Butler has worked at the Lumiere Place casino in downtown St. Louis since it first opened 13 years ago. She’s been on the VIP room’s seniority list for years and is loved by the casino’s regulars. But when the casino reopened after the COVID-19 shutdown, Caesars Entertainment laid off 97 workers including Butler. A week later, the company reversed the decision.
Black Sox Scandal
When the Chicago White Sox lost Game One of the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, it was widely assumed that a mob-run gambling syndicate had fixed the match. The scandal would soon engulf eight players on the team, who were dubbed the Black Sox by the media and fans. They were charged with conspiracy to defraud the public and injure the business of team owner Charles A. Comiskey.
Modern accounts tend to portray the case as hopelessly compromised by a loss of grand-jury transcripts, but this is misleading. When the new regime of State’s Attorney Robert E. Crowe took office, the prosecution was able to quickly recreate those documents from shorthand notes by the grand-jury stenographers.