Youth Football Coaches Arrested For Running Gambling Ring

"Who the hell would ever bet large sums of money on little league football?" is a question that has only two answers: absolutely no one ever, and people in Florida. South Florida, specifically, where nine little league coaches have been arrested on charges of bookmaking for running a gambling ring that involved various youth football teams of 5 to 15-year-olds. From ESPN:

Though the games featured little boys, the gamblers made big bets, said Det. Solomon Barnes, whose confidential informant, along with other undercover deputies, placed bets on youth football during the police investigation. Barnes said $20,000 was bet in a rivalry game between the Northwest Broward Raiders and the Fort Lauderdale Hurricanes a few weeks ago. And up to $100,000 would be bet on the youth leagues' final championship games of the season, he said.

[…]

Not only was the gambling in full force, Barnes said, but the coaches were the ones promoting and organizing the bets and setting point spreads on the games. The gambling involved multiple youth football leagues.

The detective said he and others witnessed two coaches taking bets on the sidelines of a game involving their own teams, another having collected a wad of cash that he waved in front of the players indicating how much was riding on them. Dozens of men crowded into a backroom gambling parlor where a special window serves those wanting to bet on youth games.

"Dozens of men crowded into a backroom gambling parlor where a special window serves those wanting to bet on youth games." has got to be one of the saddest sentences ever written.

Youth coaches facing gambling charges [ESPN]