For the sake of avoiding as many conspiracy theories as possible, let’s assume everyone involved in the latest twist of the UNLV Matthew Sluka story has the absolute best intentions.
Let’s assume Sluka was erroneously under the impression he was promised a six-figure NIL salary to transfer from Holy Cross to the desert for the 2024 season. Let’s assume UNLV had no clue it needed to come up with the money and, hell, let’s assume this entire mess blew up despite showings of good faith.
We know from, well, *gestures at all of college football recruiting history* this likely isn’t the case. But let’s imagine for just one moment everything was on the up and up and all this came down to was the cash missing from Sluka’s pocket.
It still would feel absolutely gross to see a sportsbook trying to pay the quarterback to stay at UNLV.
Call it an obvious Las Vegas tale, laugh it off as just another absurd moment in the Wild West days of NIL if you must, but there is no spin where this benefits anyone in the long run.
According to Brett McMurphy of Action Network, Circa Sports vice president of operations Mike Palm brought the idea of paying Sluka $100k to stay at UNLV to his boss, Derek Stevens.
Per McMurphy:
“I told Derek, ‘Why don’t we take a run at it?'” Palm told Action Network. “‘The kid’s claiming he’s owed $100,000. Are you willing to make a call to UNLV to help out?'”
Stevens told Palm to contact the school for more information. Palm said Stevens and Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas were prepared to offer Sluka a substantial NIL deal before learning he was no longer with the team.
“Mr. Stevens was willing to help the university get there,” Palm said. “One hundred thousand dollars is a small price to keep UNLV’s College Football Playoff hopes alive.”
The NCAA prohibits players from accepting sports gaming or casino NIL deals. However, Palm said there were several non-gaming options at Circa Resort and Casino, such as Saginaw’s Delicatessen or Legacy Club.
“He could have even been a lifeguard at Stadium Swim,” Palm said, referring to the resort’s epic six-pool, two-spa amphitheater with a massive 143-foot screen.
It’s surely not the best sign if you have to preface an NIL offer with how you’ll get around clear NCAA regulations.
Even in a scenario where Stevens and Palm are trying to help out the college football team across town under the best of intentions, they hopefully understood impact it would have on a sport where perception is often considered reality — to say nothing of the Pandora’s box it would open.
When you see Circa Sports, you think gambling. When you see Stadium Swim, you think gambling by the pool. For as much as American sports have embraced gambling, asking the starting QB in the gambling capital of the country to work for the industry blurs the lines beyond recognition.
No one is suggesting Stevens and Palm would dare attempt to influence the outcome of any UNLV games, but you don’t have to look hard online after any sporting event to see baseless claims that the outcome was rigged by oddsmakers. You can look even less and find copious instances of college athletes facing abuse from angry bettors on social media.
It’s part of why some states are now scaling back the ability to bet on college athletes.
Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about Circa signing Sluka to a deal. According to McMurphy, “a UNLV official told Palm that Sluka was no longer with the program and ‘we won’t be doing business with the Sluka family again.'”
Circa should consider this a stroke of good luck. The worlds of gambling and NIL are already too convoluted and sketchy on their own. We don’t need to combine them weeks after Notre Dame suspended a whole Division I swimming roster for allegedly betting among themselves on the performance of their teammates.
Even if Circa was able to get around every NCAA regulation to make an NIL deal work, it still couldn’t avoid the odor emanating from such an agreement unless it stopped taking bets on UNLV, the Mountain West and most college football futures.
Palm admitted to McMurphy he already took UNLV rival Boise State to make the College Football Playoff at +460.
The Sluka-UNLV situation as an absolute mess. Adding gambling to the mix would only make things worse.
