Metta World Peace says gamblers offered him $35K to throw games in college

While the lifting of the U.S. federal ban on state-sanctioned sports betting was greeted mostly with optimism in the NBA world, where legalized gambling is seen as a potentially fruitful new revenue stream, not everyone in the basketball community is thrilled with the development.

Former NBA All-Star, Defensive Player of the Year, and 17-year vet Metta World Peace, who says he was approached by gamblers during his college years at St. John's, is wary of what future college kids might be subjected to given the loosened restrictions.

"I see the issues with betting," World Peace told Yahoo Sports. "In college, I got approached a couple times to throw games. One interesting time, they come to me in my neighborhood and say, 'I've got 35,000 for you.' I'm like, 'Alright, that's cool, I'll take 35,000.' They say, 'We need you to throw a game,' and that's when I'm like, 'You a--hole.' But it crossed my mind. $35,000? Just to throw a game? Not bad. But that's the problem. You don't have no money. They find these kids that ain't got no money and they attack them.

"What if I was some kid that was a little scared, and it's, 'Ok, I'll do it'? That's the problem I have with betting, because these guys that are betting, some of them are bullies and they'll force a kid into a situation and, then, when the kid's trying to go to the NBA, they hold it against the kid.

"They gotta have rules - really harsh rules - on people that's using kids. You cannot be putting kids under pressure."

The Supreme Court's repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act allows each state to regulate and tax sports betting independently, though Congress can still pass legislation to regulate it at the federal level.