Many Game Officials Gamble, Study Finds

A majority of NCAA Division I football and basketball game officials who were surveyed said they gamble, with some betting on sports and using bookmakers, according to a study released Wednesday.

A yearlong University of Michigan study of Division I game officials found that 84.4% have gambled since becoming a college official. The study also found that approximately 40% have gambled on sports, nearly 23% bet on the NCAA tournament and 2.2% have used a bookie.

Two officials said they were approached by someone about fixing a game, two said their awareness of the point spread resulted in “their officiating with a level of bias,” and 12 officials said they knew of colleagues who had not called a game fairly because of gambling reasons.

The data in the report, “NCAA Division I Officials: Gambling with the Integrity of College Sports?” was collected from questionnaires mailed to 1,462 Division I sports officials in January 1999. The university said that 640 officials, or 43.8%, responded.

*

Boosters of the Nevada gambling industry and college sports leaders blamed each other for the proliferation of illegal betting among college students. In a hearing in Washington on a proposal to ban betting on college sports, Nevada lawmakers accused the NCAA of seeking a scapegoat.

Pro Football

Quarterback Bubby Brister, once the heir apparent to John Elway, was waived by the Denver Broncos.

Randy Moss’ water-bottle squirt at an NFL field judge will cost the Minnesota Viking receiver $25,000. The league reduced the fine from $40,000 but added a stipulation that Moss would have to pay the difference, in addition to any future fine, if he has another disrespectful encounter with an official.

Barry Sanders has repaid the Detroit Lions $83,333, the balance of his prorated 1999 signing bonus, his agent said. Sanders would owe the Lions $1.833 million this year if he does not report to training camp in July. He is not expected to report.

Defensive lineman Brad Ottis agreed to a two-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals. . . . The Dallas Cowboys signed quarterback Paul Justin to a one-year deal. Justin, 31, and Mike Quinn will fight for the backup spot vacated when Jason Garrett signed with the New York Giants.

Miscellany

According to a Charlotte Observer report, former Carolina Panther receiver Rae Carruth plotted his pregnant girlfriend’s murder after a plan fizzled to have her beaten so she would miscarry his child.

Carruth’s attorney, David Rudolf, rejected the newspaper’s account of the events leading to Cherica Adams’ fatal shooting Nov. 16 in Charlotte, N.C., calling it “distorted, misleading and . . . false.”

A witness told police that Baltimore Raven linebacker Ray Lewis fought in the Atlanta street brawl that led to the stabbing deaths of two men after the Super Bowl, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The witness, Jeff Gwen of Akron, Ohio, is a friend of the two men who were killed, Richard Lollar and Jacinth Baker.

Overcoming the shock of a razor attack, France’s Stephane Bernadis and Sarah Abitbol won the pairs bronze in the World Figure Skating Championships at Nice, France, where Michelle Kwan struggled on her jumps and finished second to Russia’s Irina Slutskaya in their qualifying group.

Bernadis, given a pain reliever before he skated, showed no obvious difficulty from the eight-inch cut down his left forearm inflicted a day earlier by an unknown assailant.

The gold went to Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov, who maintained Russia’s domination of the pairs event.

NASCAR team owner A.J. Foyt has picked Rick Mast to drive his No. 14 Pontiac for the rest of the Winston Cup season.

Olympic organizers may have another tax problem for failing to report $48,514 in secret consulting payments to former USOC official Alfredo La Mont. La Mont pleaded guilty March 14 to tax fraud for failing to report the income to the IRS. But neither did the bid committee, which was supposed to file tax forms reporting the payments.

Goalkeeper Kasey Keller and forward Joe-Max Moore were among 10 European-based players on the 16-man roster picked for the U.S. soccer team’s exhibition against Russia on April 26.

Caroline Lalive gained the first two national titles of her career on the same day, winning the women’s slalom and the combined events in the U.S. Alpine Ski Championships at Jackson, Wyo.

The Confederate flag that flies atop South Carolina’s Statehouse in Columbia and a civil rights group’s boycott of the state will be topics at next month’s meeting of the NCAA baseball committee. South Carolina and Clemson, both ranked in the top 10 of college baseball polls, probably will compete to become regional hosts for this spring’s NCAA baseball tournament. Officials at both schools say they plan to submit bids.