Purdue May Say No To Faculty Sports Betting

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(WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.) – Sports betting is now legal in Indiana, but for faculty at Purdue, maybe not much longer:

Purdue president Mitch Daniels is asking trustees to ban staff at all the university’s campuses from betting on, or against, the Boilermakers. State law and N-C-A-A rules already ban players and coaches from betting. Daniels says in a statement he wants to eliminate any suspicion of athletes feeling compromised, or of professors profiting from inside information. He says he’s considering banning students from betting on the Boilers as well.

Former I-U basketball player and coach Dan Dakich says gambling is a major issue for college sports, and says Indiana’s major programs need to take strong action, starting by making clear betting is off limits for players and coaches. He says he never saw gamblers sniffing around I-U’s program, but he remembers speaking at a fraternity at Bowling Green when he coached there, and chewing out a student who asked if he could come back weekly to break down how the Falcons looked against the point spread. And he says a Falcons comeback against Toledo later turned out to be among the games affected by a point-shaving scandal at Toledo. Four Toledo basketball players and three football players ended up pleading guilty.

But Dakich says he questions what a ban on faculty betting will accomplish. With sports betting now legal in Indiana, he argues professors unconnected to the athletic program have the same right to use information they acquire as any other gambler.

Purdue’s trustees are scheduled to consider the issue next month.