One of the reasons why there’s no NBA team in Las Vegas is that David Stern and the rest of the league are utterly terrified of the effect that the gambling mecca would have on its players. There’s the inevitable point-shaving, and who knows how many glassy-eyed, hung over players who had been up gambling for 16 hours straight we’d have on our hands.  And jail time. Lots of jail time. It’d be bad, right?

(He seems thrilled.)

Oh, funny thing though. Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert has a decidedly different view of gambling and its potential effects. Why else would he be providing his support to “Yes on Issue 3,” which would put casinos in Ohio? Check that - right in downtown Cleveland, which just so happens to be where the Cavaliers play. Opposite day!

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When most people think of Delaware, one of four (and only four) things comes to mind: native son Joe Biden, Delaware General Corporation Law, that one scene from Wayne’s World, or that Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution. No other answers will be accepted - sorry, Blue Hens fans.

 (Imagine being able to be magically whisked away…to Delaware.)

One answer that would not come to mind in a sane person is “sports and gaming mecca.” Despite the state’s best tourism efforts (their website rather gamely offers “everything from NCAA college football to minor league baseball“), Delaware has not been known as a sports fan’s paradise. That, however, may change if the state goes ahead with plans to allow single-game and parlay betting on NFL games. Delaware, here we come!

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Churchill Downs, home of one of the wildest infields in horse racing for the Kentucky Derby (or at least it was), had a brilliant idea earlier this year. “Say,” they said (and we’re paraphrasing here, obviously). “Why not hold races at night for the first time ever? And on a Friday night? You think people will enjoy that?” Amid bewildered stares, hemming, and hawing, the track did just that last week.

(We couldn’t find any pictures of last weekend’s night racing, so uh… this’ll do. Took us hours to make.)

Shockingly, over 28,000 drunks degenerate gamblers “racing enthusiasts” showed up, completely overwhelming the track and its concessionaires. The lines were long and the beers overpriced, and mumble grumble people no happy, prompting a full-page apology in the newspaper.

Ah, but this story has a happy ending. Read more…

We’re just hours away from the Final Four, and right on cue, we’ve got an NCAA ethics scandal. According to the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER North Carolina point guard Ty Lawson has been hanging out in Detroit casinos, though it’s not known whether he’s been doing any gambling or not. The Inquirer piece comes complete with an immediate Roy Williams defense, but it took blog BUSTED COVERAGE only a matter of hours to get snapshots of the guard in earlier action … off the court.

That’s why the bigger issue for Williams and co. now is the set of photos BUSTED uncovered, shots which show Lawson gambling at craps tables in Reno, Nev. on New Year’s Eve. Why is that such a big deal? Well, considering the fact that the NCAA still has an ongoing investigation into the University of Toledo’s programs for alleged point-shaving, Nevada casinos probably aren’t the best places to be hanging around killing time … or placing bets that can land you in debt taht would warrrant, say, shaving points in a Final Four game.

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Like everywhere else, the NFL needs to find new revenue streams to ward off recession and accommodate new expenses for things like paying medical benefits for veterans. It’s hard to see how they’ll be able to do it given the current economic climate, unless you take a suggestion from a BLOOMBERG editorial written by Joe Saumarez-Smith into consideration. Saumarez-Smith claims that, by licensing betting on the league’s games, the NFL could easily net $1.5 billion per year … as a starting point.

Granted, Saumarez-Smith has his own interests in mind; he’s the CEO of Sports Gaming, a British management consulting firm to the gaming industry. But he does make a number of important points, not the least of which is pure logic: Why should the league allow bets to be made in Las Vegas but not everywhere? All it would take is licensing casinos in other states to allow betting on NFL games. It’s not a hard thing to do.

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For being wealthy, some athletes can sure be cheapskates. Remember, if you will, that Tiger Woods never tips and Plaxico Burress keeps his wallet closed around strippers. Kinda Scrooge-ish for someone who can afford to throw away all his platinum cards and get a uranium card, but whatever; if you’ve never met a rich man who’s a spendthrift … you’ve probably never met a rich man.

(”Man, we’re talkin’ ’bout taxis! Taxis, man! We’re talkin’ ’bout taxis!”)

But at the very least, these guys are at least paying in full when they buy something, right? I mean, we’re not hearing stories like, “Tiger Woods only paid 12 cents for an Irish Car Bomb then he punched my waitress in the face and set her dog on fire” or anything.* But according to C.J. of the MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE, when it came time to pay for a taxi home from a wild night at the casinos last week, Iverson and his buddies decided to leave the cab driver four bucks short:

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Like every other sports blogger in the known universe, I am childless. Should I ever have a son, though, I will have three ironclad rules for him: 1) Never hit a lady, 2) always wear your seatbelt, and 3) never ever ever engage Tiger Woods in any sort of bet or competition, because he will beat the daylights out of you 100% of the time.

(Also as part of the bet, Fred had to eat his entire golf bag. Here he struggles with a tee.)

Today’s evidence comes from Fred Couples, one of the greatest golfers of all time. Couples is a two-time PGA player of the year and was putting his name on golf video games while Tiger was still an amateur. But now, he’s just another stuffed head in Tiger’s den, dropping eight C-notes to the man in last year’s Target World Challenge. As Couples told GOLF DIGEST:

Last year, I bet him (at the Target World Challenge). I took two shots from him the first day and said, ‘I’ll play you for $200.’ I think he shot 67 and I probably shot 74. So he said, ‘Just keep it. What do you want tomorrow?’ I said, ‘Two shots.’ He beat me again. The third day, he beat me again. The last day, he gave me four shots and said I’ll give you a break-even bet. I was so nervous. He beat me; I gave his wife $800; he snatched it out of her hands so quickly — “That’s my money.”

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Remember Tim Donaghy? Of course you do, he’s the creep who admitted to fixing and betting on NBA games. C’mon, you know who he is. This chump:

(Donaghy prepares for prison)

With all the Sonics moving, playoff starting, and award awarding going on, this newest news might have slipped through the cracks. One of Donaghy’s friends, Thomas Martino, has “admitted to paying Donaghy in exchange for betting tips on N.B.A. games, including those that Donaghy officiated.” Not good, Tim. Read more…

The Ballad of Pete Rose has been sung so often and in such a shrill manner that I expect Carly Smithson to tackle it this week on American Idol. Yes, he played in an appealing manner. Yes, he collected more hits than any other (though isn’t he lucky Ichiro Suzuki started in America so late?).

Also, he broke the cardinal sin (no, not that one) by betting on baseball (including his own team) when that very action nearly tore down the sport 65 years earlier. As it turns out, though, all of his alleged insider knowledge may not have helped him a trifle. An academic paper recently released claims Pete Rose lost nearly $50,000 on baseball.

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Soon to be sentenced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy is getting a heaping helping of the addition of insult to jail time as his estranged wife is trying to hit him with a restraining order, the ASSOCIATED PRESS reports.

Kim Donaghy claims Tim hit their children, spied on her e-mail account and threatened her with bodily harm.

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