Another form of the scenario occurs when parents or relatives of athletes who have incurred a tremendous gambling debt are "encouraged- by organized crime to put the burden of the debt on the athlete and to become involved in a sports bribery scheme by shaving points or playing poorly. The illegal practice of point shaving occurs when one or more bribed players deliberately limit the number of points scored to conform to the desires of corrupt gamblers. .
Sports bribery has been around for many years and has occurred in all sports at the collegiate and professional level. One of the most famous sports bribery schemes happened in the 1919 World Series. Eight players from the Chicago White Sox (later nicknamed the Black Sox) were accused of throwing the series against the Cincinnati Reds. A prestigious figure in organized crime, Arnold Rothstein, is said to be the so-called mastermind of baseball's worst gambling disgrace. Rothstein may well have been the most influential criminal of his era embarking on ideas of a national crime syndicate and being tutor to Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky, and Johnny Torrio (May, 2002). Rothstein was murdered at a Park Central Hotel in New York. Most of the men suspected of killing Rothstein were gamblers. Two men, Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, were never suspected of the murder; ironically, they had the most to gain and eventually became fathers of a national crime syndicate (May, 2002).
Basketball is more vulnerable to corruption than football. It is relatively hard to fix a football game because there are so many elements at play. Basketball is easy to manipulate because it can incorporate point-shaving tactics. There are technical aspects of the game of basketball that lend themselves to point shaving. When compared to other team sports, e.g., football or baseball, it is much easier to manipulate the result of a basketball game in a way that defies detection by bookmakers, coaching staffs, referees, law enforcement agencies and college officials (Whelan, 1992).
