Critics of gambling have voiced concerns that a sports betting course offered by a Las Vegas university this fall may damage the community by increasing the rate of gambling addicts.
Las Vegas university starts Sports Betting classes
Critics of gambling have voiced concerns that a sports betting course offered by a Las Vegas university this fall may damage the community by increasing the rate of gambling addicts, the reviewjournal.com wrote.
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) announced a course this fall called Sports Betting: How to Win Betting on Football. The class is scheduled to start Sept. 29.
Critics are also worried that the course could tarnish the university's image as an institution of higher education and a leader in the field of problem gambling.
However, there is no sign the university will wade any further into programs intended to train individuals how to gamble.
Class instructor Stephen Nover, a former gaming columnist for the Review-Journal, said he is reviving a class that was very popular in the early 1990s. Everyone agrees, Las Vegas is the ideal place to mine interest in how to gamble.
"This is probably the only class like it in the country because we have gambling in Las Vegas. Most people can handle gambling and this can sharpen their skills a little," he said. "If people can take a class and learn to do it a little better, what's the big deal?"
Nover said the course will feature oddsmakers and other professionals as guest lecturers who will offer tips and share strategies on successful sports gambling.
He said the class is part of the continuing education program offered by UNLV, which is self-supporting and not offered for credit toward any academic degrees.
Others, however, see it working at cross purposes to UNLV's programs in the field of problem gambling and with efforts to improve the university's reputation for educational excellence.
UNLV professor Bill Thompson, a specialist in gambling studies, said the problem with the course is that it uses the university's name and facilities in ways that could undermine its efforts to address the issue of problem gambling.
"Certainly, it encourages gambling. The policy of the state has been one of neutrality on gambling. It's not the role of the state to encourage gambling," he said.
Offering courses on the industry or on management in the industry is a proper role for the university, Thompson said.
"Everything except how much you should expect to win and how to do it. That's inappropriate. Most people lose. That's why casinos have sports books," he said.
Bo Bernhard, director of Gambling Research at UNLV said the betting class no more causes gambling addiction than the continuing education classes in wine tasting cause alcoholism.
In addition, he said a single course on betting on sports is a drop in the bucket compared with the academic and research programs under way at UNLV to address the issues involved in problem gambling.
He said all students who go through introductory hotel management courses have to pass a section on problem gambling.
Bernhard said the course, the first of its kind in a hotel program, is certified by the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling, and is designed to train possible industry leaders who are sensitive to the importance of problem gambling in this industry.
