Sports gambling creates odd bedfellows.

Witness the recent reconciliation between the NCAA and Las Vegas bookmakers.

A few years ago the two groups weren't on speaking terms as the NCAA lobbied Congress to outlaw college sports gambling in Nevada.

But when that proposed legislation stalled on Capitol Hill, the icy relationship between the NCAA and Vegas casinos began to thaw.

Last March NCAA reps flew to Las Vegas and visited sports bookmakers during the Division I men's basketball tournament. Then this month they went back to Vegas and met again in advance of the college football season.

On the surface it seems bizarre: college administrators who repeatedly preach the sanctity of amateur athletics sitting down in Sin City with professionals whose companies make millions of dollars gambling on college kids.

Despite their philosophical and cultural chasm, however, both groups say their meetings make sense because they share the same pragmatic goal: for all sporting events to be above board and free of any hint of scandal.

"We're on the same page as the NCAA," said Robert Walker, sports book director at MGM Mirage. "The integrity of the game is paramount. Who's going to bet if they think there's anything wrong with it?"

Added the NCAA's Rachel Newman-Baker: "I think we wouldn't be reaching out to them if we didn't think they had something that they could bring to the table. I do believe that they come across information that we might not hear. That's something that we should be open to in terms of us sitting down with them and discussing it."

Walker said casinos can be the first line of defense against fishy betting behavior.

"Usually if somebody comes in and bets against their team, that's a red flag, although they might know something, like the quarterback has the flu," said Walker. "But when everybody comes in and bets against their team, that's a red flag of epic proportions."

The casinos will get their first chance to raise red flags this football season over the extended Labor Day weekend. Games begin today with the biggest day coming on Saturday when some 2,000 Division I-A players will suit up for their teams.

If surveys can be believed, about 100 of those players may be involved in or aware of gambling activities that could affect their game.

A 2003 poll of 2,132 Division I-A football players revealed that 102 of them (4.8 percent) either took money to directly affect the outcome of a game, were aware that a teammate had done the same, were threatened or harmed due to sports wagering or had been contacted by an outside source to provide inside information about a game.

How much of this gambling activity involved casinos is unknown. Every year Nevada casinos take in more than $2 billion in legal sports bets, a fraction of the $80-to $380-billion wagered on sports as estimated by National Gambling Impact Study Commission in 1999. And that was before the onslaught of online gambling sites.

According to the American Gaming Association, Christiansen Capital Advisors, which tracks Internet gambling, estimated that online sports betting generated $4.29 billion in revenue in 2005.

These numbers concern not only the NCAA and casinos, but football coaches, too.

"I've never had an incident, but you can't overlook it because it's always out there," said Memphis coach Tommy West. "We talk to our players constantly, especially in today's environment with the Internet and the chat rooms and the (social networking sites) MySpace and Facebook. I try to tell our guys that you don't know who you are talking to. That's the perfect venue for a gambler, for him to make you think he's somebody else."

Added Oregon coach Mike Bellotti: "We have a film that we show, given to us by the NCAA, that we show every year in fall camp. We talk about various issues and opportunities. I have judges, lawyers, policemen, a drug expert and a nutrition expert all come and address my team. Gambling is one of the things every year that we talk about."

Justin Wolfers, assistant professor of business and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania, recently studied point shaving in college basketball. His research shows that there is usually one serious gambling scandal every decade.

"What we're seeing is what historically was a large illegal gambling sector -- the corner bookie in New York -- (moving) into a somewhat more legitimate online presence," Wolfers said. "There has always been a lot of money bet on American college sports. Equally I think it is fair to say, there is more gambling going on in college campuses."

One of the highest-profile gambling scandals in the 1990s occurred when several Northwestern football and basketball players were convicted of either perjury, illegal gambling or point shaving.

One of those Northwestern athletes, who requested anonymity, said in an E-mail interview that the temptation for college athletes to gamble has probably never been greater.

"While our situation at NU was unique (one of his teammates was a bookie), I would hypothesize that today's athlete is in quite a more dangerous situation with the Internet," he wrote.

"I would assume that since betting is more easily accessible, the temptation would be that much greater," he added. "I was never really a sports bettor but, more of a casino games player. After college, the Internet certainly made this easier due to not having to travel to play. I could merely turn on my computer and start playing games. I would assume that the same would be true for sports gambling."

With poker matches all over the TV, Indian casinos, riverboat casinos, and the Internet, gambling has become an entrenched part of 21st-century American culture. Despite the daunting odds, fighting the spread of sports gambling is an effort worth making, said Newman-Baker.

"I honestly believe if we help one student-athlete or one coach or if we protect one game, then we've done our job," said Newman-Baker. "When you talk to people who are involved with (curbing the use of) drugs and alcohol, they don't give up just because there are more and more people drinking underage or drugs are growing out of control. They keep fighting with the hope of saving that one person. I think that's definitely how we try to view it."

The former Northwestern player agrees, but added a cautious caveat.

"It is never a losing battle but, it is big business," he wrote. "Like any other big business, there is always going to be corruption. I think all you can do is continue to educate and hope for the best. Of course with some people, values are forgotten when large sums of money are involved."