The Worst Sports Betting Scandals Ever: Part II
by Karl Yu
16 Nov 06
Europe isn't the only place where sports betting scandals have occured either. The Yanks have had their fair share of scandals too.
Your White Sox are dirty
The 1919 World Series—between the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox—was mired in controversy after it was alleged that eight of the Chicago players, including “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, took a dive and purposely lost the Series to the Reds. Though the true extent of how each player was involved was never really made known, and none were convicted, all eight were given lifetime bans from baseball. What is known is that it involved betting. The incident would be dubbed the Black Sox scandal.
Back then, baseball players were paid a lot less and the thought of multi-million dollar contracts seemed like pipe dream. Add to the fact that Sox owner Charles Comiskey was stingy and constantly broke financial promises to players, and you can see why there was a need for players to make some extra cash.
It wasn’t uncommon to see gamblers seeking the advice of players before they made their wagers. In fact, a central figure in the Black Sox scandal, Arnold “Chick” Gandil allegedly provided information to another figure, Joseph Sullivan who would place bets based on that information. Rumor has it that the two would collude on the throwing of the 1919 World Series.
Gandil wanted to make some money for retirement and approached Sullivan with the idea to rig the series against Cincinnati. Sullivan agreed and Gandil reportedly went to convince some of his teammates to get in on the action. The result was one of the biggest sports betting scandals in history.
Goodfella turns stoolie, point-shavers get creamed
The life of a student can be a little overwhelming, finding a place to live, trying to get a job, making enough money to pay for tuition, books, and have some semblance of a life, while trying to maintain a GPA that won’t get you kicked out of school. The life of a student athlete has the stress of a student, plus the pressure to attend practice and perform—unless you’re taking a 2005 Matt Leinart course load.
Like the 1919 White Sox, student-athletes often feel a financial pinch—the NCAA prohibits its student-athletes from making money—and often look for ways to make money “under the table,” and like the White Sox, gamblers sometimes exploit that.
Notable examples of betting scandals in college basketball usually involve point-shaving, or players aiding a bettor by limiting the number of points for, in order to affect the outcome of a game.
Henry Hill—the same man Ray Liotta immortalized in the movie Goodfellas—had a point-shaving scheme going with members of the Boston College basketball team back in 1978-79. As witnessed in the movie, Hill was sent to jail for assaulting an FBI employee’s brother. While in jail he met some associates from Pittsburgh who got helped him establish a drug racket, they also suggested that Hill could do business with a player from Boston College named Rick Kuhn.
Kuhn convinced a couple of his teammates to take part and in the span of about three months Hill made close to $100,000 and the players apparently made about $10,000 each.
Hill was also involved in a number of other illegal activities and eventually the law had him cornered. In order to save his own bacon, Hill entered into the witness protection program and told the Feds all about his wheelings and dealings—including the point-shaving scam. Hill was whisked away to an undisclosed part of the United States, while his Pittsburgh associates and Kuhn all got jail time.
Sun Devils feel the heat from scam
Another more recent point-shaving scheme took place in the mid part of the twentieth century involving Arizona State’s men’s college basketball team. Unlike the Boston College scandal back in late 70’s, this one was orchestrated by one of the students on campus.
The Sun Devils’ Stevin Smith allegedly racked up $10,000 worth of gambling debts to student Benny Silman, who moonlighted as a bookie. With no means to pay Silman back, Smith resorted to shaving points to pay Silman off, agreeing to fix four games and got $20,000 a game. Smith also convinced teammate Isaac Burton to join the scam and paid him $4,300 for two games.
Ironically enough it was Las Vegas that helped pull the plug on this betting scam. Bookmakers became suspicious when a number of large bets were made against the Sun Devils and they contacted authorities.
When all the dust cleared, Benny Silman was given a 46 month prison sentence; Stevin Smith received a year sentence and Isaac Burton two months in jail plus house arrest, a fine, probation and community service.
Charlie hustles his way out of Cooperstown
If you head to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, you will see displays for baseball greats such as Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron and Sandy Koufax but amongst those, a section for Pete Rose is notably absent.
The switch hitter played for 23 seasons, and in that time he managed to win three World Series rings and batting titles, two Gold Glove awards, the 1963 NL Rookie of the Year, three batting titles and was named an All-Star 17 times, at five different positions. He managed the Reds after he retired as a player.
During his time in the big leagues, the man nicknamed Charlie Hustle became Major League Baseball’s all-time leader in hits, games played, and at bats.
A résumé like that would have most people as a guaranteed first balloter into the hall, but Rose liked to bet on sports and that landed him in a world of trouble.
In 1989, after reports circulated that Rose had wagered huge sums of money on sports, including baseball and possibly for and against his own team, Rose met MLB executives and was questioned about the allegations.
A lawyer by the name of John Dowd was retained to investigate the allegations and according to his findings Rose was knee deep in betting. In a 225 page report issued to then commissioner Bart Giamatti, Dowd found that Rose had wagered a minimum of $10,000 a day on virtually all games the Reds were involved in. Dowd even found evidence that suggested Rose bet against his team but there was nothing concrete.
The late Giamatti presented the report to Rose and scheduled a hearing. Rose filed a court order to try to prevent a hearing and disciplinary action from MLB and after a short legal battle, the case was thrown out.
The all-time hits leader then signed a deal that would place him on the “permanently ineligible” list and in exchange MLB wouldn’t rule on the allegations against Pete Rose.
At the time Charlie Hustle denied wrongdoing and denied betting on baseball but pulled an about-face in 2004 finally admitting to betting on the Reds, but not against them. Some say his acknowledgement was made to promote a book he wrote, some say it was to end his ban, regardless, sports betting has prevented one of baseball’s greats from immortalization in Cooperstown.
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