A famous Oklahoma college football player is in federal prison because of his gambling problem.

Blake Ferguson was convicted of fraud as an employee of Firstar Bank where he was a senior vice president. He stole almost $700,000 to pay off gambling debts and was sentenced to two years and seven months in federal prison.

Ferguson had a check drawn on a customer’s account and made it payable to his bookie so the bookie could deposit it or cash it at another bank. That was just part of his scheme.

Beginning in 2008, Ferguson developed gambling problems and they accelerated. He fraudulently advanced customer loan proceeds, approval overdrafts and customer draws to pay his gambling debts.

He was fired in 2017. His brother, Jeffrey Ferguson, pleaded guilty to federal charges while working at the same bank. Jeffrey Scott Ferguson stole $620,000 from bank accounts. He has not yet been sentenced.

The brothers were punters for OU and were outstanding football players. Jeffrey Ferguson was on the Sooners’ national championship team in 2000. He was an All American punter.

What went wrong?

Gambling – not “gaming” – is a serious cultural problem in Oklahoma. The state lottery is a voluntary tax on poor people. Oklahoma has at least 141 tribal casinos that siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars in net worth from the suckers that walk in their doors. And they are building more.

That doesn’t include illegal betting and online wagering. It’s everywhere and it has a growing negative impact on marriages, families and businesses.

Once you get in a hole while gambling, it’s hard to stop in your efforts to “get even.” Maybe if gambling were not so prevalent in Oklahoma, the Ferguson brothers would not have turned to crime.