NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Rick Neuheisel is arguably one of the biggest winners in the history of NCAA betting.

The former University of Washington football coach was fired last year after he was caught participating in a high-stakes pool on the college basketball tournament. On Monday, he settled his wrongful termination suit with the school and the NCAA, winning $4.5 million in damages.

That's not a bad payday for someone who had given his employers many reasons to fire him that had nothing to do with gambling.

The NCAA agreed to pay $2.5 million of that settlement. But Bill Saum, the NCAA's top enforcer on gambling issues, says he's not worried that gives any kind of green light to gambling on college sports.

"We settled for reasons totally unrelated to his admission in court that he gambled," Saum said.

The NCAA says it settled because it discovered evidence partway through the trial that limited the NCAA's legal options in the suit, and raised the risk of a mistrial being declared.

So Neuheisel was able to stand before the media Monday and claim that the settlement was a vindication for him, even though there was pretty much nothing in his behavior that was shown to be admirable or even legal under NCAA rules.

Of course, that disconnect from reality is no more disturbing than the fiction the NCAA spouts that it is not a direct beneficiary of the billions of dollars wagered in the betting pools each year.

"The pools and the TV ratings do not go hand in hand," Saum claimed. "I don't have any evidence, nor am I convinced that all who participate in pools tune in to game just to see if they win or lose."

Christiansen Capital Advisors estimates that $4 billion is wagered online and at the legal Nevada sports book on college basketball, with about half of that being wagered on the NCAA tournament.

The handle for office pools run in offices, bars and other groups is at least as much as that, and probably billions higher. In fact, more people bet on March Madness than even the Super Bowl.

The NCAA's own survey estimates that more than 10 percent of the nation participates in a pool.

If you believe that doesn't have something to do with the strong ratings and the $6 billion in rights fees paid to the NCAA by CBS over the last decade, you may also believe that all the schools recruited the players because of the contribution to classroom discussions they were expected to make.

The fact is, gambling pulls in casual viewers who don't normally watch a lot of sports.

"Some of the folks in pools tune in who wouldn't watch the tournament except they have a piece of the action," said Neal Pilson, a former president of CBS Sports who is now a sports broadcasting consultant. "It helps generate additional casual viewers."

Saum and the NCAA have a $600,000 annual budget to combat gambling, through education and enforcement. It warns athletes about the suspensions, loss of scholarships and expulsions that await them if they're found gambling, even in NCAA pools or fantasy leagues.

Saum said the zero tolerance policy is the only thing that makes sense for the NCAA.

"It's the big picture/slippery slope issue," he said. "If an individual puts a dollar in pool, it's not going to change outcome of game. But we can't say $1 is ok and $5 isn't, or $5 is ok and $10 isn't."

Saum said that not all violations of NCAA's ban on pools are treated the same. But even word of a simple $5 entry bracket pool can prompt an NCAA enforcement probe.

Saum argues a tough approach is necessary because students as young as middle school are gambling in NCAA pools, and problem gamblers are often introduced to wagering through such bracket betting.

There are some compulsive gambling counselors who argue that the zero tolerance policy is an unworkable standard that is just teaching students that they can get away with breaking NCAA rules. They say the organization should be identifying and counseling those with serious gambling problems rather than trying to prohibit any level of gambling.

"They're not about helping people, they're about punishing people," said Arnie Wexler, a recovering compulsive gambler who now runs a gambling hotline for those with problems. "You can't control this, especially since it's easier today to place a bet today on any college campus than to buy a beer."

Neuheisel testified during his trial that he knew of the NCAA prohibitions against gambling, but that he didn't consider the $6,300 he put in the pools in 2002 and 2003 to be gambling. He also made money on his wagers both years, even before Monday's legal settlement.

But don't worry about Neuheisel. At least partly because of all the money wagered on the tournament, the NCAA will be able to afford to pay the $2.5 million it owes him.

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