LOUISVILLE.- March Madness has hit Kentuckiana and it's hard to find anyone who doesn't know someone in an office pool. Filling out the NCAA brackets is part of spring for many people. WAVE 3 investigates how technology is making the habit dangerous for some.
"Just five dollars, you can fill out as many brackets as you want," says Denny Hertel about his office NCAA tournament pool. He's organized it for the past seven years and says most of his co-workers take the chance, filling out their paper bracket and turning it back in to him. "It really is luck," he says.
Like more and more people, Hertel plans on placing a second bet online. He says, "the chances of you winning online because there are so many people doing it are just almost zero, but it's just the fun of it. You never know."
Certified counselor for compulsive gamblers Bud Newman says sometimes it goes beyond fun. "We'll have folks online, setting up multiple brackets, trying to figure out how they're going to beat the system and win money."
Newman says for most people, betting online is no different than those office pools. For some, the fact that there is no direct contact between the bettor and the online betting company makes it more dangerous.
Newman says of the companies: "do they know if this person is a pathological gambler? No. And they probably don't care."
He is especially concerned about kids who have grown up with computers because he says "the more familiar, the more comfortable they are, the more apt they are to get into the dark side of this stage of electronics, including gambling."
Denny Hertel understands the lure. He says "it's like playing the lottery -- you might win just that one time."
He won his office pool last year and is hoping for the same luck this time around.
Under Kentucky law, office pools and lotteries are perfectly legal as long as the person who is organizing it is not making any money. If they are, it becomes a crime and could get you up to five years in jail.
If you're placing online bets, you're also OK under federal law. However, if you're organizing your pool online, you want to make sure you're dealing with a legal gambling company. If not, you could face charges as well.