Copyright The Boston Globe
Until now, efforts by professional sports franchises and the NCAA to prevent teams from getting mixed up in illegal gambling have primarily focused on three things: providing training on what’s allowed and not allowed when it comes to gambling, “scared straight”-style presentations by reformed gamblers on how gambling negatively affects lives, and partnering with integrity monitoring companies, which closely watch betting activity, athlete performance, and game outcomes to identify anomalies that may indicate illegal betting. These three things are important, but they’re only a start. Organized crime groups are too sophisticated, and the money is too good for these efforts alone to stem the tide of unlawful sports betting. And the problem is plaguing professional and college athletics alike. While there is no panacea for illegal sports gambling, the likelihood of unsavory incidents could be greatly decreased if professional and college athletics took a cue from the US government and corporate America. Namely, they need what is known as “insider risk” programs. As the recent case demonstrates, criminals will do whatever it takes to work the system and gain an unfair advantage. In sports gambling, this includes illicitly acquiring inside information. Obtaining sensitive nonpublic information about athletes, such as injury reports, greatly increases a gambler’s likelihood of success. To obtain such valuable information, criminal gamblers aim to recruit people like players, coaches, and trainers who have insider information and are susceptible to criminal influence. Targeted insiders have both access and personal vulnerabilities. It’s the same approach spy agencies take when trying to recruit someone in another government. In today’s digital world, determining who within a team has access to sensitive information is relatively straightforward. The more difficult part is to identify who also has vulnerabilities that can be exploited. These vulnerabilities can take many forms. In the spy world, an acronym is often used to describe the various motivations recruitment targets may have: MICES, which stands for money, ideology (including disgruntlement), compromise, ego, and sex. The same vulnerabilities are attractive to criminal groups. Intelligence services want to recruit people to reveal classified secrets, while criminal gamblers want to entice individuals to divulge the inner workings of their teams. For both spies and criminals, the key is to find ways to manipulate others. People associated with sports teams may suffer from the same human frailties as anyone else. One person may have substance abuse problems and need to satisfy their habits. Another may be involved in illegal or immoral activities, such as abusive relationships or sex scandals, and it would be devastating to their careers if their behavior were to be made public. And someone else may be facing financial difficulties or simply desire more money. Criminal gamblers identify and prey on such people, satisfying the recruitment target’s desires and/or blackmailing them to keep their secrets private. Because inside information drives illegal sports betting, it is imperative for teams to inoculate their people, who are their most valuable — and sometimes vulnerable — assets. Many people think insider risk programs are designed to spy on employees to detect and punish wrongdoing. In reality, the best programs focus on equipping personnel with the knowledge and tools necessary to deal with the myriad risks they face. It’s not enough to inform a team about the dangers associated with illegal gambling. Personnel also need guidance on how to safely navigate situations when family, friends, and acquaintances seek insider information about their teams. Successful programs also include resources like relationship and mental health counseling and even financial advice that personnel can avail themselves of in times of need. Implementing an insider risk program may sound like yet another costly endeavor, but it need not be. The key is to find a way to bind together all the personnel security efforts undertaken by an organization so criminals can’t exploit the seams in between.
