Sports betting website operators located in Caribbean, the Cayman Islands, Antigua and Costa Rica amongst others are smiling. They are making sports betting very easy and convenient, making the sports gambling problem worse according to the National Collegiate Athletics Association.
Data sourced from a 1999 report by the National Gambling Impact Study estimate that bettors illegally wager between $80 billion to $380 billion on sports each year and over 118 million Americans bet on sports says an ESPN survey. The current figures would have only increased exponentially in 2003.
Bill Saum, director of agent, gambling and amateurism activities for the NCAA comments that more people are watching the game for the point spreads (which are published in most newspapers) than for the action. According to him, the consumers are converting themselves into gamblers by believing that because it’s published in the mainstream press it is legitimate.
Teenagers and college students are the biggest catch for these sports betting websites. Nearly 30 percent of college athletes wager on sports, and 4 percent wager on their own games and most campuses in America would have a student bookie.@@
Data sourced from a 1999 report by the National Gambling Impact Study estimate that bettors illegally wager between $80 billion to $380 billion on sports each year and over 118 million Americans bet on sports says an ESPN survey. The current figures would have only increased exponentially in 2003.
Bill Saum, director of agent, gambling and amateurism activities for the NCAA comments that more people are watching the game for the point spreads (which are published in most newspapers) than for the action. According to him, the consumers are converting themselves into gamblers by believing that because it’s published in the mainstream press it is legitimate.
Teenagers and college students are the biggest catch for these sports betting websites. Nearly 30 percent of college athletes wager on sports, and 4 percent wager on their own games and most campuses in America would have a student bookie.@@