INQUIRER Sports

Read Part 1: Stakes reach P300M in varsity hoops

Read Part 2: Player caught in trap allowed to go scot-free

(Third of four parts)

THERE?S ANOTHER REASON GAME fixing has become rampant in the collegiate ranks, and why it?s difficult for school authorities to put a stop to it: Technology has made betting so easy while no fool-proof method has yet been created to spot a ?fix.?

Underground bookies send odds by text message to those interested 10 minutes before a game. Money changes hands in a private rendezvous, or is deposited in bank accounts.

In the recent National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) game between San Beda College and Arellano University, the Inquirer received through a bookie odds that had the Lions -14.5 favorites and the Chiefs +13.5 underdogs.

That means if you wagered for Arellano, you win even if the Chiefs lose by 13 points. If you bet for the Lions, they have to win by 15 points so you can cash in (the 0.5 points is to prevent ties).

Bro. Bernie Oca, the La Salle vice president for external affairs, said that games become suspicious once the odds are reflected in the game.

?Sometimes, you see these odds and they?re really almost how the game turns out so you have to wonder,? Oca said.

San Beda defeated Arellano, 102-74, in that game.

Once the odds are sent through text messaging, the betting window is open until tip-off.

Bookies are prevalent in different schools and in order to bet, you must personally know the bookie. The Inquirer tried to post a bet with its bookie-source, but he refused to accept it.

A few telltale signs

Apart from game results hovering near the odds handed out by underground bookies, there is no real way of fingering a player for ?fixing? a game.

But there are a few telltale signs that St. Benilde?s Henry Atayde and Ateneo athletic director Ricky Palou promise to explore to cleanse the NCAA and the Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) of the few misfits sullying their otherwise pristine image.

?We believe in off games,? said Atayde, the Blazers? management representative to the NCAA. ?But if the off games happen a bit too consistently or if it happens when the game is very important, school officials will normally approach the player to ask if he has a problem.?

?You can tell,? Palou said. ?A player may say, ?It?s my off game,? but you can?t be off in all aspects of your game. You may miss shots and your percentages may be low. But your defense and rebounding should still be there,? he said.

?If all of those are missing from your game, something?s wrong there.?

Turnover stats

The Inquirer also spoke to a former college star who admitted accepting won-game bonuses from gambling contacts. He gave a lot of valuable information to the probe, which included a few things to watch out for during games in order to determine if a fix was happening.

?Look at the turnover stats,? he said. ?Sometimes, players [fixing games] also take shots they don?t normally take. They make things difficult for themselves when taking shots.?

For example, a player known for perimeter shooting may suddenly try to dive hard against a wall of defenders a little bit too often.

By the time, though, one spots a player acting suspiciously, it would have been too late.

?What will you do? Confront the player?? a former college coach asked. ?You are only going to strain your relationship. The player will simply deny it. If you do something drastic and bench him, it will only cause more problems.?

Palou agreed: ?If you don?t let [players involved in a fix] play, what?s the public going to think? That you?re the one dropping games by not letting your good players play.

?If you let them play even if you know they?re going to drop the game, all you can do is hope for the best. You keep on shuffling players and hope that some other guy will step up in his place,? he said.

Modus operandi

Just how do fixers approach the players and the referees?

The Inquirer found out it wasn?t simply a case of stuffing money in an envelope and shoving it in front of a player?s face.

?It starts with somebody coming up to you after a win and giving you balato (tip),? Palou said. ?Then you?re hooked. That?s like an investment to these gamblers.?

After a while, he said the tips got bigger.

?Then they?ll say that they bet on the game and ask if it?s possible you win by a certain margin only. You agree. It reaches a point when you can?t say no and the money involved is very big already. Especially if you will be asked to lose a game,? Palou said.

The basketball player source confirmed this.

At first, a won-game bonus

The source said his links to game fixing started when he received P5,000 for won-game bonus four times from people involved in gambling.

?Then they will ask you to drop games,? the player said. Although he had been mentioned in the past in game-fixing controversies and had been fingered as a middleman for gamblers, the player insisted that he was never paid to lose.

He said he knew that his former teammates were the ones who accepted payments to lose. The player said his contact ?was around 30 years old. We hardly saw him during games.?

?It started when I met this woman at a bar,? the player said. ?She said she knew that I was a player and then she wanted to introduce me to someone. I was turned off at first because she mentioned something about game fixing. By chance, I saw the person the woman introduced me to during a night out. The person was with the [fixer].

Drop-a-game proposition

?[The fixer] asked if I could lose a game. He said he was already talking to other players, but he didn?t tell me who. I only agreed to the won-game bonus. Our coach did not know anything about it,? the player said.

He said he met up with the fixer?s female contact mid-season to ?collect four won-game bonuses.?

?The rule was we could not meet in the dormitory where the players are housed,? the player said. ?Maybe in the mall. But never within the vicinity of the school because you would get caught.?

Looking back, the player rues getting involved with the fixers.

?I wish it didn?t happen,? he said. ?I regretted doing it and I learned a lot of lessons.? (To be continued)