Spate of college sports betting scandals: 'A reminder that this could be us'

During the Big West Conference’s spring meetings – shortly after Alabama fired its baseball coach amid an investigation into abnormal betting activity – Commissioner Dan Butterly conducted a presentation on why it was imperative the league hire monitoring firm U.S. Integrity for comprehensive monitoring and education measures.

It took all of four minutes for the membership to unanimously agree.

“I am prioritizing protection,” Butterly, whose league is paying for the suite of services from U.S. Integrity, told On3. “We don’t have the high financial resources to go out and just do whatever we want to do. We’ve got to be very cognizant of the money we’re spending – this is one we felt was very important.”

With fall sports around the corner, industry-wide awareness of and concerns about sports betting implications are heightened. The Alabama baseball scandal, which ensnared coach Brad Bohannon, preceded a widespread investigation into the betting behavior of dozens of athletes from Iowa and Iowa State. A growing number of current and former athletes in Iowa have been charged in the probe, which alleges that several athletes placed bets on games in which they played.

What’s more, NCAA President Charlie Baker said there are 17 active investigations into sports betting violations, according to a letter the Associated Press obtained last month.

For industry leaders, the recent spate of impropriety “makes it real,” Big Sky Commissioner Tom Wistrcill told On3.

“It heightens awareness of it. It’s a reminder that this could be us – this could be one of our schools,” he said.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 struck down the federal ban on sports wagering, the space has grown dramatically. Sports betting is now legal in nearly 40 states. More than $150 billion is expected to be wagered on sports in North America this year. Months before scandals erupted at Alabama and in Iowa, Tom McMillen, CEO of LEAD1 Association, told On3 that sports wagering was his personal No. 1 industry concern because it represented a potential “existential crisis” and that ramifications could be “catastrophic.”

Asked about the recent scandals at Alabama and in Iowa, McMillen said: “Not a surprise. More to come, for sure.” 

Study of NCAA athlete sports betting behavior is essential

McMillen is among industry leaders who have called for the NCAA to conduct its first self-described national study since 2003 on the prevalence of sports wagering among student-athletes. The NCAA is expected to conduct a student-athlete survey on sports betting activity this fall. In the spring, a separate NCAA survey of 3,527 18- to 22-year-olds found that 58% have engaged in at least one sports betting activity.

As football season nears kickoff, the entire college athletics industry is holding its collective breath. 

Matt Holt, CEO and founder of U.S. Integrity, which partners with some 14 conferences and about 30 schools, told On3 to expect not one, but two sports betting scandals this college football season. He also said college conferences are way ahead of the NCAA central office right now in addressing the issue.

“The NCAA has to work with licensed integrity monitors,” Holt said. “Taking these old European data companies who say that they offer integrity services is getting them nowhere. And they should kind of look and see what the rest of the industry is doing.”

In response, an NCAA spokesperson said: “The NCAA continues to work with industry leaders, mental health experts, law enforcement and regulators, actively monitoring, researching and analyzing this landscape to devise effective ways to protect student-athlete well-being and minimize gambling harm. NCAA member conferences, schools, and the NCAA national office each play an integral role in supporting student-athletes during the expansion of legalized sports betting in the US, which includes the NCAA’s engagement of EPIC Risk Management to provide on-campus sports wagering risk management education to student-athletes across the country.”

Value U.S. Integrity provides is ‘invaluable’

Wistrcill said the Big Sky has had U.S. Integrity come to its league meetings so that athletic directors can return to campuses equipped with knowledge, data and information to relay to fellow administrators, coaches and student-athletes. The service overall includes a robust suite of educational and monitoring elements. 

And when U.S. Integrity flags suspicious betting behavior or abnormal betting line movement, it will immediately call the league office and advise on the next steps, which run the gamut depending on the nature of the alert.

“The value they provide in that situation is invaluable,” Wistrcill said. “It’s that insurance piece, right? You don’t really know you need it until you need it. Then you’re really glad you have it.”

Without the firm’s monitoring, he added, it would be “impossible” to detect betting abnormalities because the league wouldn’t pick up on them until afterward – “then you’d be kind of chasing your tail.” To that point, Holt said a league relying on its own abilities to monitor effectively is akin to “steering a ship in the dark without a lighthouse. You are completely out there in the dark all alone. And you’re just hoping you don’t crash into rocks.”

In a conversation earlier this year with one athletic director, McMillen asked, “How many of your student-athletes have bet on games?” The athletic director said, “I don’t know. I have no idea. I almost don’t want to know.”

That approach is changing.

Sports betting: ‘It is one of the scary things’

Holt said fewer campus stakeholders are taking a head-in-the-sand approach to the issues. They can’t afford to look the other way anymore. 

Big 12 Conference Commissioner Brett Yormark told On3 the issue is of such “critical” importance that the league is doubling down on its partnership with U.S. Integrity, which it has been working with since 2018. 

“Given the current environment, we need to go deeper with them,” Yormark said. “We need to educate our student-athletes. But it’s not just our student-athletes, it’s our coaches – it’s really the whole ecosystem. We’re also encouraging our member institutions to do a little bit more with U.S. Integrity.”

One of those Big 12 schools is West Virginia, whose football coach, Neal Brown, said while attention on the issue nationwide is now more acute, concerns have been endemic in recent years.

“This is something that has been ongoing,” Brown said. “Even though there have been some cases [at Alabama and in Iowa], it isn’t something that has just shown up on everybody’s radar. It is one of the scary things. As coaches, you’re responsible for an entire organization, but you really don’t have any power over how someone uses their phone.”

Whereas the issue used to pertain only to legalized sports betting in Las Vegas and Reno, Nev., – two markets in the Mountain West Conference footprint, its commissioner, Gloria Nevarez, said now anyone can largely gamble anywhere. Which means the issues are more pronounced and widespread.

“While there are states that prohibit it,” Nevarez told On3, “it’s really a national, if not international thing that we can’t ignore.”

‘This could happen on our campuses’

Keith Gill, Sun Belt Conference commissioner, said during the LEAD1 Association’s spring meetings that he “has concerns everywhere” because the industry is “vulnerable.” Particularly in the age of micro-betting – where athletes could theoretically intentionally miss a shot or turn the ball over to swing single-play betting outcomes – the potential to compromise the integrity of a game is broad. 

“We do have to be really careful because I think that we’re just blurring a lot of lines,” Gill said, “and it’s really easy to get those crossed. And once the integrity of the game has been compromised, you’ve got some really serious problems for the enterprise. Because what we are really selling, at least on the game front, is an event where you don’t know what the outcomes are.”

The Big West’s Butterly began conversations with U.S. Integrity before the Alabama scandal unfolded. His own awareness of the issue was piqued last fall when he visited his daughter at a Midwest college. Sitting among students at a hockey game, he heard students – maybe 21- or 22-years-old – discussing the need to place their parlays by the end of the day on their mobile phones. 

“I was thinking, ‘Holy smoke, these kids are literally gambling while sitting in hockey arena on their mobile phone app,'” Butterly said. “I was like, ‘I don’t know if we are doing enough in this space.'”

That was the jolt that jump-started discussions with U.S. Integrity. He sought a service to protect the integrity of league games – popular among bettors with their late-night starts – through comprehensive monitoring and thorough education resources for student-athletes, administrators and coaches. 

At this time of heightened awareness, Butterly’s goals echo those from other conference leaders. 

“If we don’t start trying to educate,” Butterly said, “something like this could happen on our campuses.”