College sports now has big-time betting problems
NCAA president Charlie Baker warned about sports betting influencing college sports in his interview at the National Press Club in July 2025 (Photo: A. Kotok).
ESPN reports tonight that state authorities in New Jersey charged 14 persons for running an illegal sports betting scheme linked to college athletes. And to make matters worse, the mob is allegedly involved.
The sports network cites state authorities that “Joseph ‘Little Joe’ Perna, a member of the Lucchese crime family, and his associates ran a nationwide network of bookmakers who used offshore websites to facilitate approximately $2 million in bets between 2022 and 2024.”
New Jersey’s attorney-general Matthew Platkin, according to ESPN, says “several college athletes operated sportsbooks at the direction of Perna's organization.” But Platkin did not identify the colleges or sports involved.
In July, I photographed NCAA president Charlie Baker who warned about the growing dangers of betting on college sports, particularly with many athletes and bettors about the same age and possibly friends or acquaintances. In September, we reported on multiple gambling investigations by the NCAA involving several schools and athletes, linking to Baker’s warnings about the growing connections between sports betting and college sports.
Now, the mob is allegedly involved with college sports betting. In his Press Club interview, Baker told about threats and harrassment against athletes when gamblers’ prop bets — on specific plays or in-game outcomes, not wins or losses — don’t work out. If the mob is indeed calling the shots, they have other more painful ways of showing their displeasure.
Who could have seen that coming?
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