CINCINNATI — There are concerns about the future of a youth football league in Ohio.
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A city council member claims that the root cause of the violence was due to adults betting on the games, according to our news partner WCPO in Cincinnati.
As previously reported by News Center 7, two people were injured in a shooting at a peewee football game in October at a Cincinnati Public School.
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Scotty Johnson said people are betting $3, $4, or $5,000 on these games.
“People are dying for a lot less money,” he said. “The reason why we’ve seen some shots fired, gunplay at these events, the ridiculous amount of money that’s being bet on these youth games is ridiculous.”
Johnson also claims that betting is the reason that Cincinnati police no longer patrol the games.
“So the reality and the difficult conversation when it comes to our young people are this: Community, stop betting on our children,” Johnson said.
However, people in the league say teams are not betting against each other.
They say they are betting on uniforms and food, not money.
Cincinnati School Public Schools shared safety improvements at the meeting.
They said they have hired 138 permanent crossing guard positions. They need 22 that need to be filled.
The next meeting between Cincinnati Public Schools and the City of Cincinnati’s Healthy Neighborhoods Committee is scheduled in August.
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