How Universities and Sports Betting Companies Are "Caesarizing" Campus Life
An ad promoting a betting app at the Michigan State University football game against Ohio State University in East Lansing, Michigan, on October 8.
To earn millions of dollars in commissions, the university has partnered with a betting company to introduce students and sports fans to online gambling.

By Anna Betts, Andrew Little, Elizabeth Sander, Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly and Walt Bogdanich
In September 2021, an employee of the Michigan State University athletic department sent an e-mail to his boss: an online gambling company would pay him handsomely for the right to promote gambling at the university.

'Alan, if we take a proactive stance, we have an agreement with Caesars for $1 million per year,' Paul Shager wrote to the university's athletic director, Alan Haller."

An e-mail obtained by The New York Times revealed that the offer from Caesars Sportsbook was even larger than that. Ultimately, the company offered a five-year, $8.4 million contract. One member of the negotiating team said in another e-mail that it was "the largest sportsbook deal in college sports."

Other schools have also signed contracts to bring betting to their campuses. After Louisiana State University signed a similar deal with Caesars in 2021, the university sent an email urging recipients (including students under 21 who cannot legally gamble) to "place your first bet (and win your first bonus)."

And when the University of Colorado at Boulder accepted $1.6 million in 2020 to promote sports gambling on campus, one betting company sweetened the deal by offering the school an additional $30 every time someone downloaded its app and learn more (https://betsites.ug/) about bet using a promotional code sweetened the deal.

All three deals were part of a far-reaching but covert campaign by the nascent online sports gambling industry: since the Supreme Court's decision in 2018 to let states legalize such betting, gambling companies have been able to attract traditional casino customers, fantasy sports enthusiasts, online game players, are racing to convert them into a new generation of digital gamblers. With tens of thousands of graduates and a captive student body, major universities have emerged as particularly attractive targets.

So far, at least eight universities have partnered with online sports betting companies (sportsbooks), many of which were established in the last year.

In addition, at least a dozen athletic departments and booster clubs have signed agreements with brick-and-mortar casinos. For example, Turning Stone Resort and Casino is the official resort of Syracuse University's Cuse Athletics Fund; in 2020, Texas Christian University in Fort Worth will partner with WinStar World Casino and Resort, open a new club with gamblers-united.com.

Online gambling deals have helped the athletic department recoup some of the revenue lost during the pandemic. The partnership allows the school to sign big-name coaches and gain additional funding to build winning sports teams. Haller, Michigan State University's athletic director, said in a news release at the time of the Caesars deal that it will provide "an important resource to support the growth needs of each university program."

The partnership, however, raises the question of whether promoting gambling on campus, especially among those of a gambling-prone age, is appropriate to the mission of higher education (https://cryptorank.io/ru/news/feed/33ac6-doge-traders-risky-bets-raise-concerns-in-overheated-market).

Robert Mann, an L.S.U. journalism professor and outspoken critic of the partnership, says, "I find it sickening and tacky that a university would encourage people to engage in an addictive and very harmful behavior."

Cody Worsham, L.S.U. Caesars and the university "share a commitment to responsible, age-appropriate marketing," he said in a statement. This commitment, Worsham added, is "integral to a sustainable and responsible partnership that benefits our faculty, the university, and the entire fan base."

Robert Mann, a journalism professor at Louisiana State University, is critical of the agreement between the university and Caesars.
The deal appears to violate some of the gambling industry's own rules that prohibit marketing to minors. The "Responsible Marketing Code" issued by the American Gaming Association, the industry's governing body, states that sports betting should not be promoted on college campuses.

Most online gambling partnerships are only a few months old, so the full impact on students has yet to be seen. However, the risks are substantial. Sportsbooks encourage frequent betting, even after a losing streak. Campus programs to treat gambling addiction and other problems are sparse, according to university officials and mental health professionals (https://www.livetipsportal.com/en/sportsbetting-news/risk-bet-prediction/).

Michael Goldman, who teaches sports marketing at the University of San Francisco, says, "I don't see enough oversight, transparency, or education to support the development of this type of deal."

Because gambling is not featured in school brochures or university brochures, parents may not know that their children are enrolled at a university where gambling is encouraged through free bets, loyalty programs, and bonuses.

Jack Cresidro, a senior at Louisiana State University, said, "The first day sports betting was legalized in the state, everyone was doing it. I tried to imagine how I would react if I were using a sports betting app and my mother found out about it.

I would say, 'L.S.U. sent me a promo code,'" he said.

To understand how gambling infiltrated the campus, The New York Times examined school records and interviewed students, professors, administrators, athletic conference officials, gambling executives, and counselors.

The Times found that these deals are conducted largely in private, with minimal discussion on campus about their potential impact on students, athletes, and the health of college sports (https://www.betmok.com/risky-bets.php).

To secure these partnerships, the athletic department relies on companies that handle the team's promotional and advertising rights. These companies, which arrange all kinds of deals with sponsors, act as intermediaries. They negotiate contracts with betting companies and sometimes get a share of millions of dollars.

Image.

Advertisements promoting gambling were mistakenly sent to underage L.S.U. students.
Unlike public universities, which are subject to government disclosure rules and Freedom of Information requests, sports marketing companies are privately held. This means that unless the university is a party to the contract, there is no need to publicly disclose the terms of the contract they have entered into. (University athletic departments routinely try to keep their deals under wraps, often through intermediaries such as athletic conferences for some of the most complex contracts, including lucrative television contracts.)

Shager, executive associate athletic director at Michigan State University, describes the benefits of this system.

Public institutions like Michigan State University no longer have to disclose all sponsorship agreements due to multimedia rights holders. This allows sponsors to spend as they see fit without the public, employees, or shareholders questioning their investment."

At the University of Colorado at Boulder, Seth Hornstein, chairman of the committee that oversees the athletic department, had no idea until he saw the news release announcing the PointBet deal.

''It was a bit of a shock,'' he says. In the rush to approve such partnerships, universities sometimes crossed ethical lines.

In January, Louisiana State University sent a mass e-mail to students and others who had not yet turned 21, the legal gambling age in the state.

It read, "Tigers fans, rejoice! The e-mail promised a free $300 bet to the first person to place a $20 wager.

Chris Holdren, a top executive at Caesars Sportsbook, said in an interview that the e-mail was mistakenly sent to underage students. He said, "We are very disappointed that this happened and have asked our Athletics partners at L.S.U. to identify and resolve the glitch in our system."

Still, Caesars is reaching out to underage students through promotions on L.S.U.'s official sports website, Tiger Stadium, television, and other media.

"I'm a big fan of the sport," says L.S.U. professor Mann. 'Walking around every day is like being showered with sports betting (https://www.protipster.com/betting-tips/bet-of-the-day).

An Offensive Position

Michigan State University fans in October. Discussions between the school and Caesars gained momentum in the fall of 2021.
The universities were not willing to share financial details of the partnership for this article. However, through a public records request to Michigan State University, the Times obtained a cache of emails and documents that provide details on how the universities negotiated with Caesars and what Caesars promised. The emails include everything from the amount of money M.S.U. will receive to who on the negotiating team will get a free Spartan jersey.

The Caesars deal gained momentum in the fall of 2021, when emails were exchanged between Caesars executives, Michigan State athletic officials, and representatives of the sports marketing firm PlayFly. According to the emails, the final proposal included a payment of up to $1.7 million in 2027. Michigan would split the first year's payment with PlayFly, retaining 65% each year thereafter, with the remainder going to PlayFly.

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