http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=usatoday-bigleaguewebwageringtri&prov=usatoday&type=lgns
or here is the column:
Big-league Web wagering trickles down to little-league level
By Jeff Zillgitt USA TODAY
8/22/2003
You can bet on Little League World Series games.
To borrow a feature from a popular sports magazine, that's a sure sign the day of reckoning is nearing.
The Internet can be many things. Informative, necessary, funny, frustrating, mindless, stupid, addictive. Pick your own adjective.
It can also open up portals to a world you never knew existed and sometimes wish never existed.
While clicking around that Web on Thursday, I came across this nugget of disconcerting information: A scan of offshore betting books turned up a handful of operations willing to take wagers on baseball games played by boys on the verge of puberty.
One might be interested (and one might be bothered) to know Japan was a 4 ½-run favorite to beat Mexico on Thursday in a Little League World Series game. The over/under was 9. Must have been some big sticks in those lineups. Massachusetts was a two-run favorite to beat Texas. The over/under was 5 ½. Must have been two great pitchers on the mound.
I'm not so naïve to believe all things are or should remain virginal. But some things associated with LLWS are dirtier than the town drunk on a Saturday morning.
It took rudimentary online research to discover at least four offshore gambling Web sites (many in the Caribbean) that offer lines and over/unders on LLWS games.
There are roughly 1,800 gambling Web sites, according to a story in Friday's USA TODAY. I did not get to all 1,800, and some required registration to view odds. I bet there are more than the four I discovered that offer similar LLWS wagering opportunities.
Nevada sports books are not allowed to accept LLWS bets. They are not allowed to place lines or over/unders on LLWS games. Nevada Gaming Commission regulation 22.120(a) prohibits wagers on "any amateur noncollegiate-sporting or athletic event."
The Little League World Series has been sullied enough with the Danny Almonte fiasco and this manufactured exposure.
We exploit these kids too much as it is with all the TV coverage. Is it necessary to provide lines, and over/under and a place to bet for a Little League World Series game? Can we let the kids be? Is it possible to let them play their games without too much adult interference?
This isn't a sad commentary on offshore gambling sites. It is an ugly, disturbing portrait of human behavior.
"We are in the service business, and people were asking for it," said Javier Van Derbiezen, marketing coordinator at pinnaclesports.com. "People have been sending us e-mails asking about it. If people are asking us to put lines up, we will take a look, and if information is available, a line will go up."
Does Van Derbiezen feel the slightest bit uncomfortable about allowing people to bet on kids?
"It's a very good question, and it is something that has been brought forward," he said.
Any tinge of guilt is probably absolved by counting the money his company is making off folks losing Little League World Series bets.
"There is a limited amount that you can wager," Van Derbiezen said. "People don't wager $1,000, $5,000. It has to be for fun, to have a team to root for. People don't do this like it's the NFL. It's more recreational. We try to keep it low-profile."
One gambling Web site had a $500 maximum bet on LLWS games. That's still serious cash for most of us.
There is excessive coverage of the Little League World Series. It is ridiculous so many LLWS games are on ESPN. One game, two games, three games, fine. But televising regional games and then every game once the kids get to Williamsport, Pa., is overkill. Then again, I expect nothing less from the worldwide leader in necessary evils.
It's absurd listening to Gary Thorne call a Little League World Series game as if it was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. It's silly hearing Harold Reynolds analyze a 12-year-old shortstop as if he's talking about Derek Jeter on Baseball Tonight.
But my ire of all those unpleasantries waned when I discovered it's possible to wager serious money on preteens.
What's next? Betting on T-ball games on the White House lawn?
Jeff Zillgitt writes about sports for usatoday.com. You can send him feedback at jzillgitt@usatoday.com
or here is the column:
Big-league Web wagering trickles down to little-league level
By Jeff Zillgitt USA TODAY
8/22/2003
You can bet on Little League World Series games.
To borrow a feature from a popular sports magazine, that's a sure sign the day of reckoning is nearing.
The Internet can be many things. Informative, necessary, funny, frustrating, mindless, stupid, addictive. Pick your own adjective.
It can also open up portals to a world you never knew existed and sometimes wish never existed.
While clicking around that Web on Thursday, I came across this nugget of disconcerting information: A scan of offshore betting books turned up a handful of operations willing to take wagers on baseball games played by boys on the verge of puberty.
One might be interested (and one might be bothered) to know Japan was a 4 ½-run favorite to beat Mexico on Thursday in a Little League World Series game. The over/under was 9. Must have been some big sticks in those lineups. Massachusetts was a two-run favorite to beat Texas. The over/under was 5 ½. Must have been two great pitchers on the mound.
I'm not so naïve to believe all things are or should remain virginal. But some things associated with LLWS are dirtier than the town drunk on a Saturday morning.
It took rudimentary online research to discover at least four offshore gambling Web sites (many in the Caribbean) that offer lines and over/unders on LLWS games.
There are roughly 1,800 gambling Web sites, according to a story in Friday's USA TODAY. I did not get to all 1,800, and some required registration to view odds. I bet there are more than the four I discovered that offer similar LLWS wagering opportunities.
Nevada sports books are not allowed to accept LLWS bets. They are not allowed to place lines or over/unders on LLWS games. Nevada Gaming Commission regulation 22.120(a) prohibits wagers on "any amateur noncollegiate-sporting or athletic event."
The Little League World Series has been sullied enough with the Danny Almonte fiasco and this manufactured exposure.
We exploit these kids too much as it is with all the TV coverage. Is it necessary to provide lines, and over/under and a place to bet for a Little League World Series game? Can we let the kids be? Is it possible to let them play their games without too much adult interference?
This isn't a sad commentary on offshore gambling sites. It is an ugly, disturbing portrait of human behavior.
"We are in the service business, and people were asking for it," said Javier Van Derbiezen, marketing coordinator at pinnaclesports.com. "People have been sending us e-mails asking about it. If people are asking us to put lines up, we will take a look, and if information is available, a line will go up."
Does Van Derbiezen feel the slightest bit uncomfortable about allowing people to bet on kids?
"It's a very good question, and it is something that has been brought forward," he said.
Any tinge of guilt is probably absolved by counting the money his company is making off folks losing Little League World Series bets.
"There is a limited amount that you can wager," Van Derbiezen said. "People don't wager $1,000, $5,000. It has to be for fun, to have a team to root for. People don't do this like it's the NFL. It's more recreational. We try to keep it low-profile."
One gambling Web site had a $500 maximum bet on LLWS games. That's still serious cash for most of us.
There is excessive coverage of the Little League World Series. It is ridiculous so many LLWS games are on ESPN. One game, two games, three games, fine. But televising regional games and then every game once the kids get to Williamsport, Pa., is overkill. Then again, I expect nothing less from the worldwide leader in necessary evils.
It's absurd listening to Gary Thorne call a Little League World Series game as if it was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. It's silly hearing Harold Reynolds analyze a 12-year-old shortstop as if he's talking about Derek Jeter on Baseball Tonight.
But my ire of all those unpleasantries waned when I discovered it's possible to wager serious money on preteens.
What's next? Betting on T-ball games on the White House lawn?
Jeff Zillgitt writes about sports for usatoday.com. You can send him feedback at jzillgitt@usatoday.com
