<TABLE class=contentpaneopen cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=contentheading width="100%">17-03-2005 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=contentpaneopen cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left width="70%">http://www.bookmakersreview.com/News/Latest/17-03-2005_Betting_in_your_office?_It's_a_pretty_safe_wager//</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2>Odds are 1 in 3 that somebody in your office is taking bets on the NCAA men's basketball tournament. By Barbara Rose / Chicago Tribune
Never mind that gambling is illegal in Illinois and most other states, or that most office pools operate on company computers.
Even in today's zero-tolerance era for ethics lapses, wagering during March Madness is as much a part of office life as handicapping the boss' chances for promotion.
Competition, suspense and college loyalties in a sports-obsessed culture combine to make the tournament a major event in offices, where it's common for employees to bet on everything from the Super Bowl to when a co-worker's baby will be born.
Many view participating in NCAA pools more as a team building exercise than any moral hazard. Some bosses not only look the other way, but they join in the action.
"It's a chance for people to communicate and razz each other," said Peter Krivkovich, president and chief executive of Chicago-based advertising agency Cramer-Krasselt, who paid $1 for a bracket in his agency's decidedly low-stakes pool among offices in five cities.
"There's always some hometown rooting going on," said the University of Illinois alum, who cheers for the top-ranked Illini. "There's always a healthy rivalry."
Office betting is widespread, despite such rare cautionary tales as the scandal that swept Chicago's biggest bank in the early 1990s, toppling Chairman Barry Sullivan.
A sports fanatic, he was booted from the former First National Bank of Chicago in part because of an illegal $64,000 college basketball pool for top executives, a high-stakes affair kicked off by a bank-sponsored cocktail party and dinner.
In offices where gambling of any sort is discouraged, stern warnings have gone out against succumbing to March Madness. It's no surprise that firms in industries hit by ethics scandals are being extra cautious this year.
"We were told last week, `Don't do it,'" said a manager at a Chicago-based mutual fund firm who asked not to be identified.
Nonetheless, some say the collegiate tourney has grown into a bigger deal for office betting than the Super Bowl, according to gambling experts.
"There's nothing that comes close," said Las Vegas-based oddsmaker Keith Glantz, whose syndicated Glantz/Culver Betting Line runs in newspapers across the country, including the Chicago Tribune. "It's No. 1."
Legal betting on the tournament is expected to approach $100 million this year, Glantz said. Law enforcement officials said they have no estimates on the additional millions that are wagered illegally online and through pools organized at work, clubs and college dorms.
Nor do they prosecute the office action.
"Our main concern is gambling that is wrapped in with other problems like organized crime, public corruption, drugs," said a spokeswoman at the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington.
In Illinois, gambling is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and as many as 364 days in a county jail.
About one-third of employers have policies about gambling at work, according to a 1999 survey of about 500 respondents by the Society for Human Resource Management, the most recent year for the survey. Of the employers with policies, 80 percent ban the activity or frown on it.
Yet 58 percent of the survey's respondents said their company's employees placed bets at work on the Super Bowl, while 30 percent said employees wagered on the NCAA tournament.
Gambling has little effect on productivity, the survey concluded, yet few dispute that March Madness is a distraction.
At Mother Hubbard's, a Chicago sports bar and grill, two-hour lunches are common in March, the bar's busiest month. The crowds will peak Thursday and Friday during the tournament's first-round games.
"We get a lot of business people," said Brenda Gilmore, an owner. "The average customer is here from four to six hours. A lot of customers tell us they've saved up time off for the opening of the tournament."
Many argue that sports pools are good for office morale, despite the diversion.
"As a boss I'd never ban them," said James Faust, a retired Zenith Electronics executive who headed several high-tech start-ups. "Every company I was associated with had them. It's just good harmless fun."
High-stakes pools abound at the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where risk-taking is a way of life.
NCAA pools run into the tens of thousands of dollars at the exchanges, and operators typically take a percentage of the house, traders said.
People who operate help lines for compulsive gamblers said they see a spike in calls during March Madness, including a few from people who organize office betting.
"Every year we get calls from some gamblers who get into trouble because they ran a pool and they could not pay out because they took the money and gambled it somewhere else," said recovering gambler Wayne Burdick, president of the Outreach Foundation for Illinois-based Problem and Obsessive Gamblers.
Burdick said 3 percent to 5 percent of the population has a problem with gambling.
"Most of the office stuff, it's not too bad," he added. "It's mostly small stakes and a lot of fun."
Todd, who asked that his last name not be used, is typical of the sports boosters who start office pools and expand them into unsanctioned traditions. He works in a regional office of Chicago-based consulting firm Software Architects Inc.
A Purdue University grad, he ran NCAA pools in his college dorm before starting one at Software Architects nine years ago.
"The first one, there were 20 people and I did it by hand on paper," he said. Now he uses an Excel spreadsheet and runs the game via e-mail after work and on his lunch hours.
The pool has grown to about 100 employees and friends. At $5 per bracket and up to two per player, there's a pot exceeding $500, with the winnings split among the three top scorers. The low scorer gets his or her money back.
Scoring methods vary, but players typically pay to fill out a bracket sheet that shows the team match-ups at the beginning of the 64-team tournament. They get points for correctly picking the winners for each of the matches through the Final Four leading to the championship.
In his pool, Todd sends out e-mail updates after each game with a little commentary on the off-the-court competition.
"If there was an upset and you picked it, you'll get praise," he said. "If you made a really bad pick, I'll harass you a little."
He's cheering for Illinois, but the team doesn't show up as champion on either of his brackets.
"I'll see a lot of sheets come in with Illinois picked," he said. "If you want to win it, you have to pick with your brain, not with your heart."
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Never mind that gambling is illegal in Illinois and most other states, or that most office pools operate on company computers.
Even in today's zero-tolerance era for ethics lapses, wagering during March Madness is as much a part of office life as handicapping the boss' chances for promotion.
Competition, suspense and college loyalties in a sports-obsessed culture combine to make the tournament a major event in offices, where it's common for employees to bet on everything from the Super Bowl to when a co-worker's baby will be born.
Many view participating in NCAA pools more as a team building exercise than any moral hazard. Some bosses not only look the other way, but they join in the action.
"It's a chance for people to communicate and razz each other," said Peter Krivkovich, president and chief executive of Chicago-based advertising agency Cramer-Krasselt, who paid $1 for a bracket in his agency's decidedly low-stakes pool among offices in five cities.
"There's always some hometown rooting going on," said the University of Illinois alum, who cheers for the top-ranked Illini. "There's always a healthy rivalry."
Office betting is widespread, despite such rare cautionary tales as the scandal that swept Chicago's biggest bank in the early 1990s, toppling Chairman Barry Sullivan.
A sports fanatic, he was booted from the former First National Bank of Chicago in part because of an illegal $64,000 college basketball pool for top executives, a high-stakes affair kicked off by a bank-sponsored cocktail party and dinner.
In offices where gambling of any sort is discouraged, stern warnings have gone out against succumbing to March Madness. It's no surprise that firms in industries hit by ethics scandals are being extra cautious this year.
"We were told last week, `Don't do it,'" said a manager at a Chicago-based mutual fund firm who asked not to be identified.
Nonetheless, some say the collegiate tourney has grown into a bigger deal for office betting than the Super Bowl, according to gambling experts.
"There's nothing that comes close," said Las Vegas-based oddsmaker Keith Glantz, whose syndicated Glantz/Culver Betting Line runs in newspapers across the country, including the Chicago Tribune. "It's No. 1."
Legal betting on the tournament is expected to approach $100 million this year, Glantz said. Law enforcement officials said they have no estimates on the additional millions that are wagered illegally online and through pools organized at work, clubs and college dorms.
Nor do they prosecute the office action.
"Our main concern is gambling that is wrapped in with other problems like organized crime, public corruption, drugs," said a spokeswoman at the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington.
In Illinois, gambling is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and as many as 364 days in a county jail.
About one-third of employers have policies about gambling at work, according to a 1999 survey of about 500 respondents by the Society for Human Resource Management, the most recent year for the survey. Of the employers with policies, 80 percent ban the activity or frown on it.
Yet 58 percent of the survey's respondents said their company's employees placed bets at work on the Super Bowl, while 30 percent said employees wagered on the NCAA tournament.
Gambling has little effect on productivity, the survey concluded, yet few dispute that March Madness is a distraction.
At Mother Hubbard's, a Chicago sports bar and grill, two-hour lunches are common in March, the bar's busiest month. The crowds will peak Thursday and Friday during the tournament's first-round games.
"We get a lot of business people," said Brenda Gilmore, an owner. "The average customer is here from four to six hours. A lot of customers tell us they've saved up time off for the opening of the tournament."
Many argue that sports pools are good for office morale, despite the diversion.
"As a boss I'd never ban them," said James Faust, a retired Zenith Electronics executive who headed several high-tech start-ups. "Every company I was associated with had them. It's just good harmless fun."
High-stakes pools abound at the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where risk-taking is a way of life.
NCAA pools run into the tens of thousands of dollars at the exchanges, and operators typically take a percentage of the house, traders said.
People who operate help lines for compulsive gamblers said they see a spike in calls during March Madness, including a few from people who organize office betting.
"Every year we get calls from some gamblers who get into trouble because they ran a pool and they could not pay out because they took the money and gambled it somewhere else," said recovering gambler Wayne Burdick, president of the Outreach Foundation for Illinois-based Problem and Obsessive Gamblers.
Burdick said 3 percent to 5 percent of the population has a problem with gambling.
"Most of the office stuff, it's not too bad," he added. "It's mostly small stakes and a lot of fun."
Todd, who asked that his last name not be used, is typical of the sports boosters who start office pools and expand them into unsanctioned traditions. He works in a regional office of Chicago-based consulting firm Software Architects Inc.
A Purdue University grad, he ran NCAA pools in his college dorm before starting one at Software Architects nine years ago.
"The first one, there were 20 people and I did it by hand on paper," he said. Now he uses an Excel spreadsheet and runs the game via e-mail after work and on his lunch hours.
The pool has grown to about 100 employees and friends. At $5 per bracket and up to two per player, there's a pot exceeding $500, with the winnings split among the three top scorers. The low scorer gets his or her money back.
Scoring methods vary, but players typically pay to fill out a bracket sheet that shows the team match-ups at the beginning of the 64-team tournament. They get points for correctly picking the winners for each of the matches through the Final Four leading to the championship.
In his pool, Todd sends out e-mail updates after each game with a little commentary on the off-the-court competition.
"If there was an upset and you picked it, you'll get praise," he said. "If you made a really bad pick, I'll harass you a little."
He's cheering for Illinois, but the team doesn't show up as champion on either of his brackets.
"I'll see a lot of sheets come in with Illinois picked," he said. "If you want to win it, you have to pick with your brain, not with your heart."
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