Ty Lawson is a guard for North Carolina, the NCAA basketball team that has made it to the final four. The team will face Villanova on Saturday in the finals, but in the meantime the players of North Carolina are enjoying their time in Detroit. By enjoying their time I mean visiting a casino.

The coach gave the players a curfew of 1:30 so Lawson decided to visit Greektown, a local casino. He was there for about an hour and played craps. He managed to win around $250 while playing craps. It seems though that Lawson’s simple trip for some fun has caused him a little strife.

Gambling is a touchy subject when it comes to the NCAA and they are strict about was is legal and was not. Lawson did nothing wrong by visiting the casino; he is 21, so he is of gambling age. Myles Brand is the NCAA president and he commented at a news conference that the NCAA only prohibits gambling on a college or professional sports team. However he also stated that they would prefer if athletes do not gamble at the casinos.

"Well, I warn against that slippery slope. It's a fair question," said Brand, who was not asked specifically about Lawson. "What a student does, play bingo in his church for example, while we discourage that, we prefer not to try and regulate that particular kind of activity. But it's highly discouraged."



- 2009-04-03