NCAA to more closely monitor into gambling in Nevada

The Associated Press

The NCAA plans to begin more closely monitoring betting lines on games and to start background checks on baseball and hockey officials as part of its antigambling efforts.

The moves are being made after an NCAA study last year found that 35 percent of male athletes and 10 percent of female athletes had gambled on college sports during the previous year.

One response from an NCAA task force on gambling would have the organization start checking in regularly with a longtime antagonist - the Las Vegas sports books.

Rachel Newman-Baker, the NCAA's director of gambling activities, said Tuesday the group hoped to re-establish contact with the oddsmakers to watch for instances in which heavy wagering has caused significant changes in point spreads or for the casinos to pull games off the board.

The steps were presented to the NCAA's management council during its meeting this week near Los Angeles.

The NCAA has not yet decided how it will communicate with the sports books, but might do so directly or through Nevada casino regulators, Newman-Baker said.

"We want to know more about what is going on in Las Vegas," she said. "We just want to be more in the know."

Such an exchange will be welcomed by many in the Las Vegas gambling industry, said Robert Walker, sports book director at the MGM Mirage casinos.

"It is imperative that the public knows that they have a 50-50 chance of winning and that both teams are trying," Walker said. "Otherwise, it is WWF wrestling out there."