Metta World Peace knows firsthand the dangers gambling poses to the sports world, and he has the stories to prove it.
The Queensbridge native and former St. John’s star was asked to throw games on multiple occasions in college, he revealed in an interview with Yahoo Sports, once even being offered $35,000 to fix a game.
“I see the issues with betting,” World Peace said. “I’ve been approached in college. I got approached a couple times to throw games. The one interesting time, they come to me in my neighborhood and say, ‘Hey, you know, I got 35,000 for you. I’m like, ‘All right, that’s cool. I’ll take 35,000.’ They say, ‘Hey, we need you to throw a game.’ And that’s when I’m like, ‘You a–hole.’ ”
But that’s not to say the former first-round pick, who had a long NBA playing career for the Bulls, Pacers, Lakers and Knicks, among others, wasn’t tempted.
“It crossed my mind. ‘$35,000 just to throw a game. Not bad,’ ” he said. “But that’s the problem when you don’t have no money. They find these kids that don’t have no money and attack them. But it’s like, what if I was some kid who was a like a little scared. It’s like, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ ”
On Monday, the US Supreme Court overturned a lower-court decision banning sports gambling in New Jersey, paving the way for legalized sports betting across the nation.
World Peace, who was known as Ron Artest during his days at La Salle Academy in Manhattan and St. John’s, said it’s a dangerous situation to bring that magnitude of gambling money into the sports world.
“That’s the problem I have with betting because these guys that are betting are — they’re bullies, some of them are bullies,” World Peace said. “And they’ll force a kid into a situation, and then when the kid is trying to go to the NBA, they hold it against the kid.”