Fallout from the New York Times’ recent expose on the connection between big-time American universities and gambling operators continued this week as personal finance guru Dave Ramsey called the relationship “stupidity on steroids.”
Ramsey is just one of a growing chorus of critics who have come out in the wake of the New York Times’ investigative piece titled, How College and Sports Betting Companies ‘Caesarized’ Campuses. The article lays out the details of deals made between eight major American universities and gambling operators to turn students into players.
The well-known personal financial guru didn’t mince words in comments reported on by Yahoo! News saying, “You freakin’ idiots … Selling out your own students who you’re supposed to be caring for. The number two addiction in North America today — and fastest growing addiction in North America today — is online gambling. It starts with the sports betting as a gateway drug.”
The students Ramsey is referring to go to schools that have cut deals with sports betting operators allowing them to market on campus in return for a cut of the action. These would be very familiar to casino affiliates, especially the one cut between PointsBet and the University of Colorado, which puts $30 in the university’s pockets every time a student signs up with the CU promo code.
Marketing gambling products to minors is as illegal in the US as it is in the rest of the world, but since most college students aren’t minors, there’s nothing technically wrong with these kind of deals. At the same time, there’s been enough fallout from the New York Times articles, that the practice of marketing to college students could see some unwanted scrutiny from lawmakers across the United States.