December and January are Arnie Wexler’s busiest times. Four more bowl games,
including the Papajohns.com Bowl, increase the angst for Wexler, a
recovering compulsive gambler in New Jersey who works with addicts. “When I
stopped in 1968, all of the games were on Jan. 1,” Wexler said. “Now they’re
all spread out. It’s not good for the gamblers. As long as they have another
day, they still have their dream alive and can bail out.” ESPN purchased the
inaugural Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham mainly to add television
programming. One million or so TV sets won’t be tuned in simply for the joy
of watching East Carolina play South Florida. Birmingham’s bowl will attract
three times the betting action than if this matchup was a regular-season
game, said Jimmy Vaccaro, an oddsmaker at American Wagering in Las Vegas.
South Florida is a four- to five-point favorite. The time slot (noon
Central) is conducive for early action in Las Vegas at 10 a.m., setting up
“a perfect three-ring circus,” Vaccaro said. Birmingham’s bowl kicks off a
Saturday with three college games and one NFL game. “For the people who
don’t understand and bet to bet, if they win that first bet, they have money
in their pocket and they’ll bet San Jose State-New Mexico. If they lose,
they’ll be even and have one more (college) shot with Tulsa-Utah,” Vaccaro
said. “It’s what we call in the industry `churning the money.’ It’s like a
mini-NCAA Tournament Thursday. It’s all on television and it spurs interest
because it’s one after another.” Eighty-five percent of people that
illegally bet on sports do so on football, said Danny Sheridan, USA Today
analyst and oddsmaker. “If you think somebody’s going to watch the
conclusion of South Florida and East Carolina if they don’t have a bet on
it, you’re crazy,” he said. “You could have 100 bowl games and people would
watch. The school names are irrelevant if you’re a bettor.” Bowls provide
networks with relatively cheap programming that produces enough viewers to
keep sponsors happy. Only one of the 28 bowls last year drew a TV rating
less than ESPN’s average rating for a 2006 regular-season major league
baseball game (1.2). Sixteen of 28 bowls improved their TV ratings in
2005-06, even as 18 of 28 decreased in attendance. College football’s
postseason now stretches from Dec.19 until Jan.8, a 32-game, 21-day bonanza
for gamblers leading into the NFL playoffs. Ten years ago, the college
postseason was 18 games over 15 days.
Vaccaro said the increase in bowl games represents, at the very least, the
indirect result of networks and colleges feeding America’s gambling habit.
“If the game wasn’t on TV, it would draw less attention and less money on
it, but there would still be money bet on it,” Vaccaro said. “We keep
feeding this big monster and it gives us a return on this investment.”
Sheridan said the bowl system – in which only the national championship game
truly matters – is designed to attract gamblers.
“If you have a competitive game, if the spread and over/under are in doubt
throughout the game, you will have a highly rated game,” Sheridan said.
“It’s not to say everybody who watches bowls bets. But you’ve got 40 million
people betting on these games.”
The chair of the NCAA postseason football licensing subcommittee, Southern
Mississippi Athletics Director Richard Giannini, disputes the argument that
the influence of gambling impacts bowl TV ratings.
“I may be naive. I don’t see how that plays a part,” Giannini said. “I don’t
gamble. I have no idea how it works. I don’t see the correlation other than
I’m sure in Las Vegas you see a line on the game. I don’t see any
correlation between the bowl games and the gaming industry, nor have I ever
been asked the question.”
Alabama is the biggest betting state per capita in the country, said
Sheridan, who lives in Mobile.
“They bet on high school sports in this state,” Sheridan said. “I’d be
surprised if you don’t see a plane flying over Birmingham’s bowl promoting
off-shore betting.”
