March 24, 2006

CONVICTED POINT-SHAVING BASKETBALL PLAYER TELLS CBS NEWS WHAT COULD HAVE STOPPED HIM FROM MAKING THE DECISION TO GAMBLE -- TONIGHT ON THE "CBS EVENING NEWS"

Former Arizona State basketball player Stevin Smith tells CBS News, in a rare interview, that the pre-game lectures on sports betting that the F.B.I. has started giving to Sweet 16 team members will make a difference. "That's something that should have happened a long time ago," says Smith. "I think it would have prevented some things. It would have prevented me from doing what I did...had I known the consequences." Smith spent a year in prison for 'shaving points' at Arizona State in the early 1990's. Correspondent Jim Acosta's report will be broadcast tonight (23) on the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH BOB SCHEIFFER (6:30-7:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Following is Acosta's report. You must credit the CBS EVENING NEWS:

Acosta: "Before the West Virginia Mountaineers took the practice court, they had a little sit-down with the FBI."

Natural sound -- FBI agent: "You have a lot of people out there. They want to be your friends for the wrong reasons."

Acosta: "Special Agent Tom Metz was invited by the NCAA to explain how gambling on sports -- especially on their own team-- could ruin their lives."

Tom Metz, FBI: "We are trying to say to the student athlete is they have a lot to lose."

Natural sound -- NCAA gambling official Rachel Newman-Baker to team: "If it's an NCAA sponsored sport at either the college or professional level you would not be allowed to bet on it, okay?"

Acosta: "NCAA official Rachel Newman Baker used to give this lecture just to the 'final four' teams. This year, it was expanded to all 'Sweet 16' teams, an admission that the problem is bigger than they thought."

Acosta: "Just three years ago an NCAA survey found a staggering 29 percent of its division one male athletes had bet on sports and that two percent had actually been asked to throw a game. Forget the sports scores those are the numbers that make the NCAA nervous."

(More)

CBS News...2

Acosta: "The big fear is 'point shaving'-- where crooked gamblers manipulate players into missing baskets or playing soft on defense to bring the final score within the so-called 'point spread' set by Las Vegas odds-makers."

Eric St. Claire, Dir. Of Race and Sports Operations, Rampart Casino: "Well the potential there for someone to make could be in the hundred's of thousands of dollars."

Stevin Smith, convicted point-shaving basketball player: "I made a hell of a mistake that cost me my NBA career."

Acosta: "Stevin Smith spent a year in prison for 'shaving points' at Arizona State in the early 90's." Smith rarely gives interviews, but told CBS News the pre-game lectures will make a difference.

Smith: "That's something that should have happened a long time ago. I think it would have prevented some things. It would have prevented me from doing what I did...had I known the consequences."

Acosta: "West Virginia's coach, John Beilein welcomed the FBI's visit and says his players get it."

John Beilein, West Virginia Men's Basketball Coach: "I wish they listened to me that attentively in some of our meetings because our guys were on the edge of their seat."

Acosta: "Just in case, the NCAA has its own investigators working with Las Vegas gambling officials, as well as the FBI, to make sure the message gets across. Jim Acosta, CBS News, Atlanta."

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Press Contact: Kelli Edwards 212-975-6795 kee@cbsnews.com