Sports and betting are two things that seem to go hand-in-hand. Bettors in the countries of England and the United States love football—albeit different versions—and wager huge amounts of money on it. Bettors in Canada always like to make a trip to their local corner grocery store so that they can bet on hockey through the many sports lotteries. When the NCAA college basketball tournament comes around people scramble to get their brackets filled out. If one is not a gambling addict, betting on a sporting event can be good fun.

Although the relationship between wagering and sports has gone on for a long time, the two haven’t always had a smooth ride. While few complications can arise when people bet, Pandora’s Box can be opened when the line between sports and gambling is blurred.

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.

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.

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