To borrow a line from Capt. Renault in "Casablanca," I am shocked, shocked, to find that gambling is going on here.
But unlike Capt. Renault, who delivered his famous line while collecting from the croupier at Rick's Cafe Americain, I actually was shocked to find gambling on the NCAA's official Internet Web site.
For the Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday April 1, 2000 Home Edition Sports Part D Page 9 Sports Desk 1 inches; 23 words Type of Material: Correction
NCAA--Arnie Wexler, a recovering compulsive gambler, has a hot line--(888) LAST BET--for others similarly afflicted. The number was incorrect in a story Friday.
That is the same NCAA that is marching on Washington in an effort to ban betting on college sports in Las Vegas, the same NCAA whose concerns prompted CBS to sever ties last year with an online sports book, the same NCAA that has threatened newspapers that accept advertising from gambling touts to withhold credentials for its events, and the same NCAA that is sponsoring a media campaign counseling, "Don't Bet On It."
Yet, in the days after the release of the NCAA tournament brackets, you could log onto the NCAA's official Web site, www.NCAA.org, click on the official tournament site, FinalFour.net, then click on the banner ad for Maxim magazine and enter a contest called Maxim Madness.
The contest was similar to the office pools in which you select winners in each of the tournament's 63 games, and although you were not required in this case to put down money in order to play, more than $45,000 in prize money was offered.
No one at Maxim headquarters in London could tell me exactly how many people entered the contest, but I did learn that the site was deluged, to the extent that the magazine issued an e-mail advising would-be contestants to stay up late in order to have a chance to register.
Now, I should confess that I am not an anti-gambling crusader, as long as the gambling is done legally and in moderation. Because entrants weren't risking their own money, I'm not even sure if this contest constituted gambling, at least not with a capital G. The people at Gambler's Anonymous disagree, but you would expect them to have a stricter definition than most of us.
Others, however, who have studied this issue are concerned about the possible implications.
"Although completing a bracket without any risk [financial or otherwise] by definition is not gambling," one person who is waging war against gambling on college campuses, wrote this month, "it may encourage gambling behaviors among youth who, according to research studies, start gambling through sports wagering."
The letter, obtained this week by The Times, was written to the NCAA's corporate and media partners by Cedric Dempsey, the NCAA's executive director.
