Point shaving
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In organized sports, point shaving is a type of match fixing where the perpetrators try to change the final score of a game without changing who wins. This is typically done by players colluding with gamblers to prevent a team from covering a published point spread, where gamblers bet on the margin of victory. The practice of shaving points is illegal in some countries, and stiff penalties are imposed for those caught and convicted, including jail time.
A point-shaving scheme generally involves a sports gambler and one or more players of the team favored to win the game. In exchange for a
Basketball
Famous examples of point shaving are the
On 15 August 2007, NBA referee
On April 17, 2024, Jontay Porter was banned from the NBA due to a point shaving like scandal. [1] He advised gamblers to bet the under on his stats, then left early for suspicious reasons, and received money from the gamblers. [1]
Point shaving in the NFL
There has never been an official point shaving scandal in the NFL, and while there may have been some accusations, point shaving has never been proven to have occurred.[2][3][4] However, college soccer has had its share of point drops, mostly because NCAA players don't get paid and can be easy targets for punters.[5][6] Even with the change in laws that allow NCAA players to make money from their names and images, they are not being paid to play.
Two NFL players Alex Karras, a professional linebacker who starred in the '80s sitcom "Webster," and Paul Hornung, a former NFL MVP who set a league performance record in 1960 that stood for 46 years, have both been suspended indefinitely after regularly betting $500 on the NFL.[7][8] The suspension lasted only one year, and Pete Rozell noted when announcing the disqualification that no player had bet on his teams - Hornung was later elected to the Hall of Fame.[9]
Art Schlichter another example of a player who bet on sports, including the NFL, but was never convicted or proven to have engaged in point shaving in an NFL game because he, like Karras and Hornung above, never bet on his team.[10][11] A year later, in 1985, he was reinstated to the NFL.
Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue expressed concern about a possible increase in betting cuts after the NFL announced the official designation of Caesar's, FanDuel and DraftKings as official betting partners in April 2021. In his article in the Bleacher's Report, he expresses concern that while he has kept the NFL and legalized betting separate during his tenure, the NFL's recent concession to appointing betting partners could lead to increased risk of rate cuts.
In popular culture
In the television series
Point shaving is an underlying plot thread in the 1974 film
In One Tree Hill, Nathan Scott, the star basketball player of Tree Hill High, colludes with a gambler to shave points during the North Carolina high school state semi-finals. This eventually leads to him losing a scholarship to Duke University and temporarily derailing his college prospects. He bounces back from the scandal to play at a junior college, leading to a scholarship to the University of Maryland and a career in the NBA.
References
- ^ a b "NBA bans Jontay Porter for life after investigation reveals Raptors forward violated league gambling rules". CBSSports.com. 17 April 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ "Point Shaving In The NFL (All You Need To Know)". americansportsplanet.com. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
- ^ "What Is Shaving Points In NFL?". www.caniry.com. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
- ^ "What Is Shaving Points In The NFL?". racketrampage.com. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
- ^ "Supreme Court NCAA ruling and the new future of paying college athletes". www.cnbc.com. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
- ^ "College Athletes Are Now Closer To Getting Paid After NCAA Board OKs Plan". www.npr.org. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
- ^ "Alex Karras, NFL star lineman who became TV, movie actor, 77". www.boston.com. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
- ^ "The Year the NFL Banned Two of its Biggest Stars for Gambling". www.si.com. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
- ^ "What is Point Shaving? Explained With Examples". oddsassist.com. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
- ^ "Art Schlichter: Gambling in the Life of a Famous NFL Player". nfldraftdiamonds.com. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
- ^ "The 12 Biggest Athlete Gambling Scandals That Sound Like A Bluff, But Aren't". www.ranker.com. Retrieved 10 April 2024.