NASCAR not keen on gambling

Fishhead · Mar 3, 2004

I realized that Brendan Gaughan was from Vegas but it didnt even hit me that he may be from the famous Jackie Gaughan casino family!!!

COOL!........I will have a spot in my heart for him now. Heck, I may even make a move to add him to my BETROYAL fantasy team.

By Chris Jenkins, USA TODAY

With the Nextel Cup series heading to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, there is nothing in NASCAR's rules to prevent a driver from betting on the outcome of Sunday's race at a sportsbook.

But given other major sports' hard-line rules against gambling, NASCAR officials are becoming less comfortable with the idea of competitors betting on races.

When rookie driver Brendan Gaughan, a Las Vegas native whose family owns a casino, said last month that he had bet on himself to win the Daytona 500, it earned him a lecture from officials — even though he technically didn't do anything wrong.

Asked about NASCAR's gambling policy during a Tuesday media teleconference, Gaughan became flustered, calling the original story about his bet, which ran in the Feb. 11 edition of USA TODAY, "a misquote" and "a statement taken out of context." As for his interpretation of NASCAR's gambling policy, Gaughan said it was "a question you can ask NASCAR."

Gambling isn't banned in the rulebook, but NASCAR officials can punish drivers for doing just about anything they don't like under a catch-all phrase that prohibits "conduct detrimental" to racing.

"We'd prefer that our guys not wager on our sport," said NASCAR vice president of communications Jim Hunter.

But officials will not formally ban drivers from gambling on NASCAR unless they think it's becoming a problem. "At this point in time, anyway, we don't think we have a problem," Hunter said.

As for Gaughan, Hunter said, "I think Brendan fully understands our position. And it is my opinion that Brendan will not do anything to jeopardize the integrity of the sport."

In the wake of game-fixing and point-shaving scandals, other sports have taken a hard-line stance against gambling. When Gaughan played basketball at Georgetown, for example, the NCAA wouldn't have allowed him to bet on himself — even if the bet was placed legally in a casino. "The issue isn't 'legal' or 'illegal' as much as it is taking a financial position on your participation," said Bill Saum, the NCAA's director of gambling activities.

But the idea of a NASCAR gambling scandal seems relatively far-fetched. NASCAR wagering simply isn't that popular, making up an insignificant part of the billions bet on sports each year.

And given the fact that drivers risk their lives for the sake of winning, it's unlikely that one would "throw" a race or behave differently because they made a bet.

"Our guys are thinking about ways to win races whether they're wagering or not," Hunter said. "They're not going to do anything with a wager that they're not going to do without a wager."

Mr.Jones · Mar 3, 2004

I do not know how to cut, paste and post things. But if you go to thatsracin.com there is an interesting column on this by David Poole a columnist from the Charlotte Observer. You'll find it on their homepage.

Fishhead · Mar 3, 2004

Thanks Mr. Jones!

Got it!

Remember, tonight is the RX get together at SELMONS if your up to it sir.

If not, we will be there every Wednesday.

Fishhead · Mar 3, 2004

By DAVID POOLE

The Charlotte Observer

When you sit down to write a column about something, it's usually a good idea to know which side you're going to argue.
Actually, more often that we'd care to admit, columnists pick a side without much conviction and choose a point or two to argue forcefully while largely ignoring equally valid points on the other side. After all, it works in politics.

Once in a while, though, you come up against something you can't fake your way through. And with the Nextel Cup series heading to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, I've run up on one of those.

A couple of weeks ago, rookie driver Brendan Gaughan was sitting around with a group of reporters talking. It wasn't an interview, we were just shooting the breeze. Nobody said "off the record," but nobody had to. It was just one of those conversations you know would never happen if anybody had out his notebook or tape recorder.

During that session, Gaughan mentioned that he'd won a tidy sum of money in Las Vegas by placing a legal wager on himself to win a Truck series race at Texas. Gaughan's family owns several casinos in Las Vegas and Gaughan has worked the sports books, so he really enjoyed being able to walk up with a winning ticket and collect money from his old buddies.

A couple of days later, I picked up another newspaper and read a story about how NASCAR planned to have a long talk with Gaughan about the very wager he'd talked about with us and, apparently, with other reporters in another setting that was considered on the record.

Is that a story? Well, obviously, I didn't think so when the subject first came up, since I didn't follow up and come back the next day to write something.

After the other story ran, I again chose not to write about it because, once again, the wager had been made in a perfectly legal fashion. Gaughan had placed the bet in person at a sports book in a casino in Las Vegas and not through an illegal bookmaker. He also, and I thought this was important, bet on himself.

Over the years that NASCAR has been going to Las Vegas, several drivers have admitted that they've put a few bucks down on themselves to win Busch or Cup races. And some of them have cashed in.

The question for today, then, is whether there's anything wrong with that?

Clearly, my first inclination is to say no.

Again, it's legal to bet on NASCAR races in Las Vegas. Last week, the track's public relations folks sent out the opening odds set forth by Micah Roberts, the oddsmaker for the Stations group of Vegas casinos, who lists Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson at 8-1 as the favorites to win the Cup race and Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth as 3-1 choices for the Busch race.

Many of the reporters covering the races this weekend, I assure you, will have money down on one or both of the races. I speak from personal experience on that. Some of us, too, are playing in one or more fantasy NASCAR games with fellow reporters or their brothers-in-law. I also know this for a fact, since I'm actually running such a league.

All of that, in my mind, makes it awfully hard for me to get up on a high horse and say NASCAR needs to make and enforce a strict policy prohibiting its competitors from gambling on the sport in which they participate.

At the same time, however, it's just as hard to draw a line that makes racers gambling on NASCAR OK but also makes what got Pete Rose in so much hot water with baseball so heinous.

Is there any difference in a racer betting on himself in a race and a baseball manager betting on his own team? None that I can see. On the other hand, I would point out that a lot of baseball writers play rotisserie baseball, too. I've always felt that makes their moral high ground seem a little shaky when they're writing recriminating Rose.

Clearly, it would be troubling to find out that a NASCAR driver had $100 bucks on somebody else to win a race he's in.

But what about a guy who works for one team that has very little chance of winning? If he sees a line he likes and puts down $20, does the fact that he's got a hand in tuning on his team's car make him guilty of trying to affect the outcome of the event? And, while we're talking hypothetically here, is it possible that one or more NASCAR officials might have, at some point on a trip to a race in Las Vegas, put down a buck or two on an event he's working? You'd certainly hate to hear that, wouldn't you?

So is it wrong for a driver to bet on himself to win on Saturday or Sunday?

Should all persons credentialed to work inside the garage this weekend be asked not to gamble on the races, even though such gambling is perfectly legal?

I wish I had an answer I believed in for you, folks.

cecil+ · Mar 3, 2004

Brendans a great guy, I picked him to win ROY this year. He won some cash last year betting on himself with 6 truck wins.

His only problem is, he has a really big mouth. He not only gambles on all the races but he talks about it as much as he can. I am all for legal gambling but to have one of the competitors talking about his bets all the time is only going to cause him to lose the priviledge...

I would expect Nascar to address this at some point this year.