Cheating the Spread in College Sports

Many people ask if college sports are fixed as well. If you can gamble on it, you better believe it. There have been multiple point shaving scandals over the years in NCAA sports especially in basketball and football. With the amount of money college programs bring in these days and the corresponding television contracts these schools sign they have every incentive to win, create story lines and bring in high ratings. This is often done through point shaving, ridiculous officiating and more. On the other side of the ball, the athletes themselves are often tempted by bookies and others to point shave to earn a little money on the side or pay off debts since they do not get paid to play. A book called Cheating the Spread: Gamblers, Point Shavers, and Game Fixers in College Football and Basketball by Albert Figone touches on the shady side of college sports and the infamous fix. Pick up a copy and let us know what you think the next time you see a star college player mysteriously start missing easy shots or field goals.

FBI Investigating Point Shaving at Auburn

News broke last week that the FBI has been investigating point shaving at Auburn University. Specifically the FBI has been investigating point guard Varez Ward with special attention to Auburn's 68-50 loss to Alabama on February 7th and a 56-53 loss at Arkansas on January 25th. As soon as Auburn officials learned of the information they reported it to the FBI, NCAA and the Southeastern Conference. Generally point shaving schemes involve more than one player so I will definitely be monitoring this case to see if anything else is discovered from this investigation.

Hawaii Point-Shaving Scheme?

A little over a week ago Sports Illustrated reported allegations that a point-shaving scheme involving University of Hawaii football players was being questioned.  On November 3rd the admissions office received an anonymous letter stating that players were intentionally playing bad to affect the outcome of games and scores.  Police investigators do not currently have enough information to open an investigation and campus officials couldn't comment if they would continue with their own.  Hawaii is a pretty bad 3-7-1 against the spread this year.

South Carolina Point Shaving Rumors

Last week rumors that South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia was involved with point shaving surfaced.  The same sports books that correctly suspected Toledo a few years ago have dismissed these rumors and state they have not seen any unusual betting patters.  Still seems like a very strange coincidence that this very same quarterback was recently dismissed from the program the day before the rumors surfaced but for failing an alcohol test.  If the cat was not out of the bag I'd say keep your eye on this program if anyone else may be involved which is usually the case but now it's probably too late.

Another Toledo Football Player Convicted in Point Shaving Scheme

Former Toledo running back Harvey McDougle Jr. recently plead guilty to working with a Detroit gambler involved with point shaving at Toledo University.  McDougle was the third Toledo athlete to be convicted in the point shaving scheme and most likely worked in recruiting other players for the scheme.