April 04 - The FBI have arrested a running back for Toledo's college football team whom they say was involved in a points shaving scheme that attempted to influence sports betting results against the spread. The official charge is bribery to influence sporting events and it's bad news for the NCAA.
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The player involved was Harvey "Scooter" McDougle Jr. a senior at Toledo who received a telephone, a car, and other gifts from a professional gambler known as "Gary" in the documentation. Scooter introduced a number of other players to Gary, who wined and dined them, gave them gifts and took them on gambling trips.
In exchange, all Gary asked for was that games finished on the right side of the ATS number for his bets - at no point were players asked to change the SU outcome of Toledo games, primarily because there is limited sports betting action on the moneyline.
But seriously, it is easy to convince college football players who are not paid while they work as identured slaves for the NCAA (schools make millions off their hard labor) that they are entitled to a few bucks, especially when they don't have to influence the final outcome of a game. Instead of winning by 21 they win by 14 and no one loses any sleep over it, except for the FBI.
Gary supposedly offered one player $10,000 if he sat out of an upcoming game, and it is clear that Toledo will be dragged through the mud good and proper on this one (puin intended, although tough to find if you aren't a Toledo fan or au fait with the MAC).
The NCAA hates sports betting scandals more than anything else because they sully the image of good clean kids playing for the love of the game, and for those billion dollar TV contracts. But the kids themselves are easy targets for shrewd wiseguys who offer their own special brand of boosterism. It is not exactly a rare occurrence in college sports.
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