Both professional and college sports have been riddled with scandals since the very beginning of their conception, and sports betting only created more incentive for athletes to break the rules. Point shaving occurs when athletes, either on their own or with a pro-gambler, will bet against his or her team and then ensure that the team does not cover the spread. In many cases, this works best for athletes who are on a team favored to win. Here are a few notable athletes who have been caught in betting scandals-a crime punishable by the federal court.
1. 1951: The City College of New York
Basketball seems the easiest target of sports betting scandals since teams can score points frequently and only as little as one player can impact the entire game. The long past of sports betting scandals can be seen through the scandal that took place at The City College of New York in 1951. During this time, the best college basketball team was The City College of New York. Three of CCNY’s basketball players were arrested after an extensive investigation. They were charged with the manipulation of the point spread during the 1951 season. After some time, twelve more players were accused of manipulating their games. This scandal was one of the largest in all of sports history with more than 86 games affected, and seven different schools involved. It forever took CCNY off of the grid as a basketball powerhouse.
2. 1978: Boston College
The Boston College betting scandal is especially interesting because it is tied to Henry Hill, a mobster who helped the FBI crack cases, and whom the movie “Goodfellas” is based on. This scheme involved two brothers Tony Perla, and Rocco Perla, who were amateur gamblers that were good friends with Rick Kuhn, a basketball player on the Boston College team. Both the Perla brothers, as well as Kuhn came up with a scheme to shave points. Although this plan started out small time, a friend introduced the brothers to Henry Hill, who aided them in creating an entire betting pyramid. Hill’s plan would allow them to spread out their wagers to a range of bookmakers so that they would not get caught. It was successful for a number of games until a match-up with Holy Cross failed to lose on the point spread and all of the mob backers backed out. This scheme would likely not have been found out if it was not for Henry Hill giving the FBI all of the details.
3. 1994: Arizona State University
This scheme was thought up by the campus bookkeeper, Benny Silman and involved the basketball players Isaac Burton and Stevin Smith. Smith was paid a whopping $80,000 to affect the score of four games. However, he knew it would be too hard to go at it alone and so he asked his teammate Burton to help him out and paid him $4,300. Unfortunately for the trio, the Las Vegas casino that they used to place their wages smelt something fishy. The casino started an investigation when almost $1 million was bet on the Washington vs. Arizona State game on March 5, 1994. Due to this stint Silman spent four years in prison while Smith served one and Burton only two months.
4. 1995: Northwestern University
This point-shaving scheme is notable because it involved players from two different teams. Kevin Pendergast was a kicker for the Notre Dame football team who asked Kenneth Lee, a Northwestern basketball player if he’d be willing to shave points on his games. Unlike many point-shaving schemes, Kenneth Lee and the other players he recruited planned to lose by more than the spread but were quickly caught by the FBI.
5. 2007: NBA
Basketball referees make very efficient gambling schemers. Tim Donaghy and his friends Tommy Martino and Jimmy Battista planned a scheme in which Donaghy would use his insider’s knowledge as an NBA referee to choose picks. Eventually, officials caught on that Donaghy was wagering and possibly influencing NBA games. Although the three denied the charges, an analysis of the games that Donaghy refereed found anomalies. All three were sentenced to prison.
6. 2007: University of Toledo
Point shaving in football happens less often because it is trickier to pull it off successfully. However, this did not deter Adam Cuomo, who was a running back for the University of Toledo. Cuomo and two Detroit gamblers created a scheme to point-shave on the University of Toledo football games with the two gamblers providing the bankroll. Cuomo worked to recruit some of his teammates, and even tried to expand the point-shaving scheme to Toledo’s basketball team. However, the plan was foiled, and players on both the football team and basketball team pled guilty to their charges. One player even admitted to accepting $500 to fumble in a bowl game. Cuomo was charged with 30 months in prison.
7. 1989: MLB
Pete Rose has gone down in the books as one of the worst athletes of all times. He played for the Reds in which he was quite successful, even winning three World Series rings and awarded as the Most Valuable Player Award. However, three years after he had retired as an active baseball player, Rose was accused of gambling on the games he played and managed. He was even accused of betting against his team on some games. Because of this, Rose agreed to be put on permanent ineligibility, which made him lose out on the Baseball Hall of Fame.