Georgetown men's basketball coach John Thompson's
application for a Nevada gaming license was the focus of a report
on ABC's "World News Tonight." The license would allow Thompson
to purchase 10% of the company that operates slot machines at Las
Vegas' McCarran Airport -- a venture which ABC said could net
Thompson over $300,000 per year. ABC's Armen Keteyian said the
NCAA is concerned because Thompson's would-be partner, Michael
Gaughan, is the owner of Las Vegas casino Barbary Coast, as well
as the father of Georgetown walk-on Brendan Gaughan. NCAA Exec
Dir Cedric Dempsey: "If your team competes and doesn't play to
the caliber that it's capable of playing, there's going to be the
questions about whether or not the game had been fixed. It just
opens up a tremendous suspicion that is not necessary." Keteyian
noted Thompson has defended the deal as ethical because he would
only make money from slots and that NCAA rules only prohibit
coaches and athletes from "knowingly providing information to
gamblers" (ABC, 3/19). The WASHINGTON POST reports attorneys for
Thompson have asked the NCAA to decide whether the application
violates any NCAA rules. Gaughan placed Thompson's likely return
at about $10,000 a year (Mark Asher, WASHINGTON POST, 3/20).
