Wetzel: NCAA announcement shows athletes can't win at the sports betting game

Fresno State men's hoops was a squad going nowhere, smack-dab successful the mediate of a dreadful 6-26 play successful 2024-25. They were acceptable to big New Mexico connected New Year's Eve arsenic dense underdogs, up to 17.5 points.

The hopeless quality of a forgettable crippled mightiness person factored into Bulldogs defender Jalen Weaver's evident content that nary 1 would announcement erstwhile helium placed a $50 regular phantasy stake connected himself.

He thought he'd people much than 11 points that night, and helium did, notching 13 successful the 103-89 nonaccomplishment to the Lobos.

Yet from the obscure and seemingly unremarkable stat enactment successful an different obscure and unremarkable game- - this ain't the Final Four -- the NCAA was capable to nail Weaver for his actions.

The $260 Weaver won that nighttime coiled up costing him his collegiate eligibility, the NCAA said Wednesday, portion besides announcing the banishment of 2 different players who competed astatine Fresno and San Jose State past season.

"I conscionable made a atrocious decision, and I shouldn't adjacent person gotten progressive with that," Weaver antecedently told ESPN's David Purdum.

Let Weaver -- not to notation the 13 further players astatine six further schools the NCAA announced investigations into connected Thursday -- beryllium a acquisition to everyone progressive oregon tempted to beryllium progressive successful manipulating alleged idiosyncratic prop bets.

To punctuation Nike (sort of): Just don't bash it.

Certainly not the players; nary substance however casual it mightiness look to conscionable punch a stake into your telephone oregon archer a person to instrumentality the nether on, say, first-half rebounding totals truthful the 2 of you tin stock successful immoderate winnings. If you get caught, and you precise good might, the NCAA is the slightest of your worries.

And surely not the sports gamblers who are inclined to stake connected specified oddball things, particularly involving low- and mid-major games. Unless you are successful connected the scam, you precise good mightiness beryllium getting scammed. These kinds of bets are conscionable excessively casual to manipulate. Why would anyone hazard it?

"I stake connected a crippled I played in, but I ne'er tried to sabotage the season," Weaver said to ESPN past February. "I ne'er stake connected america to lose; ne'er stake my unders."

It's not hard to spot the temptation. Sports wagering and the requisite "fixing" that goes on with it person been contiguous for generations, but sports betting has ne'er been much successful the look of athletes and would-be gamblers.

Advertisements. Partnerships. Betting apps.

It's everywhere, and frankincense tempting to everyone.

Easy money, conscionable for scoring 2 much points than the enactment successful immoderate phantasy game? All portion playing for a losing team?

Yet it possibly, oregon adjacent probably, isn't going to enactment out. That's the acquisition of each these NCAA cases that proceed to popular up. Many don't impact the games and players that the nationalist are focused on, but alternatively ones successful the astir distant corners of the sport.

A time aft announcing the cases astatine Fresno and San Jose, the NCAA revealed 13 much athletes are suspected of "betting connected and against their ain teams, sharing accusation with 3rd parties for purposes of sports betting, knowingly manipulating scoring oregon crippled outcomes and/or refusing to enactment successful the enforcement staff's investigation."

They formerly competed for six schools: Eastern Michigan, Temple, Arizona State, New Orleans, North Carolina A&T and Mississippi Valley. This isn't precisely Duke, Kansas and UConn.

The NCAA's past of enforcing its ain voluminous rulebook is sketchy astatine best, but this is an wholly antithetic deal. It has partnered with cutting-edge integrity watchdog groups that tin analyse information and betting trends wholesale. The NCAA is besides lone 1 of respective entities focused connected this problem, from casinos and authorities regulators to the FBI.

It's intolerable to cognize however galore athletes aren't getting caught successful the dragnet, but galore intelligibly are.

"The NCAA monitors implicit 22,000 contests each twelvemonth and volition proceed to aggressively prosecute contention integrity risks specified arsenic these," NCAA president Charlie Baker said.

The NCAA is diligent successful its acquisition efforts, trying to scope each 500,000 student-athletes -- repeatedly -- with a connection astir the dangers, including that this isn't conscionable astir big-time players connected big-time teams. It's everyone, adjacent down to Division III.

"In presumption of educating athletes, we [constantly repetition that] you don't person to beryllium the prima subordinate successful bid to beryllium astatine risk," Mark Hicks, who spearheads the NCAA's anti-gambling and anti-gambling acquisition efforts, told ESPN. "That is thing that is simply a cardinal connection constituent successful each transportation ses...