Another NCAA Tournament bracket filled out and another $20 flushed down the toilet.

Gambling on collegiate athletics has reached an all-time high with the aid of more than 700 web sites.

Internet betting is so bad that Betonsports.com is setting odds and taking wages on the next developments on the war in Iraq.

Athletes from NIU’s basketball, baseball, volleyball and softball teams agreed that college athletes should not be allowed to gamble on collegiate sports while in school.

NIU Athletic Director Cary Groth said there has not been an incident at NIU where a student-athlete has been caught gambling on other collegiate sporting events.

“It’s a big challenge with outside bookies because it’s easier to get to college students,” NIU pitcher Mark Skrukrud said. “College athletes don’t get paid. It’s an opportunity to play sports for free.”

Some NIU athletes have said they think it is all right to bet on sports they aren’t participating in, but they have been programmed to say that they don’t, and would never, bet on their own sport.

In order to show the NCAA means business, it makes all programs show a 10-minute video on gambling to their athletes.

Afterward, the athletes sign a contract saying they would not gamble on collegiate sporting events.

It’s bad enough that today’s amateur athletes have to go to classes, practice, do homework and play games in front of ravenous crowds.

Add in the fact that boosters tempt players to sell out their team to make money, and gamblers bet hundreds of thousands of dollars on single games, and the pressure on collegiate athletes to perform seems neverending.

A bill, HR 3575, was introduced in February 2000, and would eliminate all legalized forms of gambling on collegiate sports in all 50 states.

Nevada is the only state where legal sports betting exists.

Come on, seriously. We all know everyone and their brother, and even some mothers (mine included), get in pools for Division I College Football bowl games and the men’s NCAA basketball tournament in other states.

However, the real problem with gambling on collegiate sports comes when the athletes themselves are betting on games.

A recent study done by The Compliance Group on 648 Division I men’s basketball and football programs showed that 25 percent of athletes had gambled on other collegiate sporting events.

The real stunner was that 3.7 percent had gambled on a game they played in, and .5 percent took money for throwing a game, or not playing to their capability on purpose. And those are just the ones fessed up.

It’s ridiculous that college athletes aren’t playing for the love of the game anymore, and now it’s slowly seeping down into prep sports.

LeBron James, come on down, you’re the next contestant on “Show Me the Money.” Next year’s show will feature New York high school junior point guard Sebastian Telfare, the NBA’s Stephon Marbury’s cousin.

In November 1998, the National Impact Study Commission reported that $380 billion was spent on illegal sports gambling.

The fact is, money needs to stay on the professional level where the only thing that seems to matter anymore is the cold, hard cash.

The gift of having the athletic ability to continue playing a sport for the love of the game while receiving a free education is something too many collegiate athletes are taking for granted these days.

Legalized gambling has no place in the world of collegiate athletics, but there always will be those pools at work that people believe will make them a few extra bucks before tax season comes around.