Heeke: Sports gambling a concern, not a problem at Central Michigan

Sports gambling has been a concern for many universities across the nation, including several Mid-American Conference schools.

But since arriving almost four years ago, Athletics Director Dave Heeke has not seen a sports gambling problem at CMU.

“We have not had any issues with sports gambling with any of our student athletes, specifically,” Heeke said.

Between 2005 and 2007, two Detroit-area businessmen and six athletes from the University of Toledo were indicted on charges of point-shaving in football and basketball games. The investigation included a Feb. 4, 2006, basketball game against CMU, where the Rockets won 78-62 (16-point difference), a game they were favored to win by 15 points.

CMU has a strict, zero-tolerance policy which prevents athletes on all teams from betting on any sports games, whether they participate in them or not, Heeke said.

“We got a pretty simple rule here: if you’re a student athlete, you don’t bet on anything,” Heeke said. “There’s an underworld to sports gambling and that, unfortunately, student athletes are very vulnerable and taken advantage of by very bad people.”

Other universities have had problems in the past outside of Toledo’s recent incident. Arizona State University’s 1994 basketball team was riddled with controversy after several individuals were found guilty in 1998 of bribing two members of the team to miss shots in four different games during the 1994 season.

Education

CMU offers several educational programs on sports betting to student athletes, including the NCAA-sponsored “Don’t Bet On It” campaign that reminds schools and athletes of the policies on sports betting. Individual team meetings are held before each season, involving the coaching staff and players. Incoming freshmen also are mandated to attend sports wagering lectures.

Every year, the university brings in experts on the issue, including Tim Otteman, assistant recreation parks and leisure services professor at CMU.

Otteman, a sports gambler in college, travels to different schools around the country each year to educate athletes on the dangers of sports gambling. He is considered one of the top experts on the issue.

“As one who experienced it during my college years, I saw the people who made money doing it for short periods of time, but I also saw the slippery slope that started and some people that got into big trouble,” Otteman said.

The situation in Toledo was not a huge surprise, Otteman said, because of its mid-major college sports status, compared to higher-level schools, where athletes are more likely to move on to professional sports.

“I think that’s (mid-majors) where we’re going to see the majority of gambling scandals happen because of the fact that the players at those schools, a high majority of them, are not going on to a professional career,” he said. “To tell that student, ‘Hey, we’ll give you $10,000 to shave points and fix a game,’ it means a lot to a student who’s going to graduate and make $30,000.”

Despite being a mid-major school, Otteman said an effective student affairs program and the Athletics Department’s compliance with rules have helped CMU keep a clean record with the NCAA.

“Just like any other problem that has an addiction related to it, but also any problem that might involve the college population, education is the key,” he said. “Here at CMU, we’ve kind of embraced that.”