Hoop Schemes

The Badgers were lumbering. By the end of the first half, the University of Wisconsin had dropped 18 points behind Texas A&M Corpus Christi, as day two of the NCAAcollege basketball tournament got underway. But then, the pride of Madison got rolling. Kammronn Taylor poured in 24 points in the second half. Big 10 Player of the Year Alando Tucker finished with 23. The Badgers, and their legions of beer-swilling, ball-crazy cheesehead fans, lived to fight another day.

For the fans, it was more than a victory; the win kept alive their hopes of cleaning up in one of the countless office pools they'd invested in, along with the rest of the country. March Madness is prime betting time—even though, unbeknownst to many hoop fans, wagering on games is illegal in nearly half the states. The laws often go unenforced, the cops typically having more important things to do than to crack down on small groups of small fry. But NCAA betting pots can climb into the five-figure range and beyond—and the law is still the law.

And the pool of potential lawbreakers is substantial. Twenty-seven percent of employees admit to betting in office NCAA pools, according to a 2007 survey by the career-information site Vault.com (OK, admittedly, the sample size was only 266 people, but still). The FBI estimates that almost $2.5 billion will be placed on illegal bets during this year's tournament (that number includes online gambling sites and bookies, in addition to office pools). In contrast, the bureau expects only $80 million to $90 million in bets will be placed legally with sports book operators in Nevada.

In Badger country, Democratic state Sen. Jeff Plale wants to do something about the legal taint. He's bothered by the notion that a cube dweller tossing a sawbuck into the kitty in support of his team could be committing a class B misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum fine of $1,000 or imprisonment for up to 90 days under state law. So Plale has introduced a bill decriminalizing small sports pools. His goal: to get it passed and signed by the governor by the time next year's installment of March Madness rolls around. "Every year around this time the majority of Wisconsin is a potential felon," Plale says. "I've maybe even fallen into that category once or twice, and it certainly doesn't rise to the level of criminal activity."

Plale, who first proposed the idea six years ago, says his bill, reintroduced this week, won't legalize betting. But it will decriminalize small pools with a $50 "buy-in limit" (i.e., the maximum bet you can place) which are focused on a specific event with the full pot going to the winners.

"If you're talking $1,000, you're maybe pushing it, but we're talking about the mom-and-pop bars putting money in a hat," Plale says. "It's not an open opportunity to set up new gambling parlors."