Stein Misses the Point

Earlier today, Marc Stein of ESPN wrote this in his Donaghy Questions & Answers article:

"If salaries were raised, would that reduce the possibility of referees being lured into the sort of activities Donaghy is accused of?

Referees make only a fraction of what NBA players earn, true, in a league in which the average player salary tops $5 million.

Yet it's a significant stretch to suggest they're all desperate for dollars -- even if you want to overstate things and make it sound as though fighting off such temptations is a common problem.

Entry-level referees are paid in the $85,000 area, according to league sources, but the overwhelming majority are six-figure earners. At the high end of the scale, salaries surpass $300,000.

It's believed that a referee with Donaghy's experience makes more than $200,000 annually, with extra cash coming in the playoffs.

The median wage and salary income in this country in 2005, according to U.S. Census data, was $34,926 for men and $23,546 for women."

I usually like Stein, but he completely misses the mark here. With regards to NBA basketball and gambling it doesn't matter how much the average person in the U.S. earns - these players, coaches and even referees are in a different world. What matters is that referees can easily earn more than 1x-5x their salary in a week long stretch of games without drawing any bookie-based red flags ( i.e. in Vegas people wouldn't look twice at mid five to low six figure bets).

In contrast, an NBA player, with an average single year salary of over $5.0 million would rarely risk millions upon millions of dollars in current and future salary along with endorsement opportunities and royalties payments for relative chump change point shaving. Additionally, if they wanted to reap rewards greater than their salary their bets would almost certainly draw scrutiny.

Money provides with people with incentive even if they aren't "desperate for dollars". Additionally, this situation exemplifies why having a team in Vegas shouldn't be a concern - at least as far as gambling goes. The internet is ubiquitous; people can place a bet anywhere as it doesn't matter where the team is playing. Generally speaking, players make too much money to ever risk it all wagering on games or point shaving. And the players who don't usually aren't significant enough factors alter the game outcome.