Iowa and Iowa State Involved in Gambling Investigation

[Idaho]

Involves wrestling   

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/37568592/gaming-commission-investigating-iowa-possible-ncaa-violation

[Idaho]

26 at Iowa across 5 sports including wrestling. 15 at Iowa State. Trouble brewing. It’s a year long season and post season ban if I understand correctly. 

[MNRodent]

NCAA doing a flex to show people that they still exist.

[ionel]

Shouldn't athletes be able to spend and wager their NIL anyway they want.  ;_;

Edited May 9, 2023 by ionel

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Fake news

[Idaho]

4 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Fake news

Says the Faux Bon. 

[Tripnsweep]

8 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Fake news

Shouldn't you be paying your gambling debts? 

[flyingcement]

I don't have a problem with it unless they were betting against themselves. 

[ionel]

19 minutes ago, flyingcement said:

I don't have a problem with it unless they were betting against themselves. 

What if say a wrestler is betting against his room mate who is on the baseball team, or vice-versa?  

[BlacknGold]

[flyingcement]

21 minutes ago, ionel said:

What if say a wrestler is betting against his room mate who is on the baseball team, or vice-versa?  

Yeah same idea for me.  

[billyhoyle]

1 hour ago, flyingcement said:

I don't have a problem with it unless they were betting against themselves. 

And if they are betting for themselves that is still wrong because they would know when they feel better/worse.  If they are better for people they know, that is also bad because they could get inside information. Even if they are betting on a completely unrelated sport, it's a problem for them to be involved in gambling because maybe they get into a bit of debt and suddenly owe money to some unscrupulous folks.  

[flyingcement]

3 minutes ago, billyhoyle said:

And if they are betting for themselves that is still wrong because they would know when they feel better/worse.  If they are better for people they know, that is also bad because they could get inside information. Even if they are betting on a completely unrelated sport, it's a problem for them to be involved in gambling because maybe they get into a bit of debt and suddenly owe money to some unscrupulous folks.  

To each their own.  To me, I think most people should bet on themselves more, at least figuratively speaking.

[Wrestleknownothing]

I originally thought this is an underaged gambling case that also winds up being an NCAA violation, though for different reasons.

In Iowa sports betting was made legal for anyone 21 and older in 2019, per The Athletic. They also report that the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission began the investigation. 

But the presence of one employee and several former student-athletes makes me wonder what the underlying problem really is.

[98lberEating2Lunches]

1 hour ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission began the investigation.

I think this kind of investigation is indicative of an abnormal amount of action on one side of a specific sporting event's result.  Sports gaming commisions routinely look for these anamolies and investigate them.

For instance, let's say a few students on a particular team plan to bet against themselves when the odds / money line is most favorable.  The word leaks out among a subset of all student athletes.  From these a further subset bet, and so the number of bets and/or total $s bet on the winning side of the game result are statistically higher than reasonably expected.

The sports book could then also determine likely connections among those who made wagers via available big data collectors.

I would not be surprised to learn student athletes flush with NIL could get caught up in such exploits and its subsequent investigation.

[billyhoyle]

4 minutes ago, 98lberEating2Lunches said:

I think this kind of investigation is indicative of an abnormal amount of action on one side of a specific sporting event's result.  Sports gaming commisions routinely look for these anamolies and investigate them.

For instance, let's say a few students on a particular team plan to bet against themselves when the odds / money line is most favorable.  The word leaks out among a subset of all student athletes.  From these a further subset bet, and so the number of bets and/or total $s bet on the winning side of the game result are statistically higher than reasonably expected.

The sports book could then also determine likely connections among those who made wagers via available big data collectors.

I would not be surprised to learn student athletes flush with NIL could get caught up in such exploits and its subsequent investigation.

I really hope this wasn't what happened.  That would be exceptionally egregious.  I remember in college the compliance people being very clear to not even bet on March Madness or Fantasy Football. It was made absolutely clear what the rules were, and I'm assuming it still is. 

[Tripnsweep]

1 hour ago, 98lberEating2Lunches said:

I think this kind of investigation is indicative of an abnormal amount of action on one side of a specific sporting event's result.  Sports gaming commisions routinely look for these anamolies and investigate them.

For instance, let's say a few students on a particular team plan to bet against themselves when the odds / money line is most favorable.  The word leaks out among a subset of all student athletes.  From these a further subset bet, and so the number of bets and/or total $s bet on the winning side of the game result are statistically higher than reasonably expected.

The sports book could then also determine likely connections among those who made wagers via available big data collectors.

I would not be surprised to learn student athletes flush with NIL could get caught up in such exploits and its subsequent investigation.

That's kind of what happened to ASU basketball in the mid 90s. Their star player got involved with an on campus bookie who had mob ties and they fixed 3 or 4 games before they got found out. The last game they tried to fix actually got taken down by suspicious casino bookmakers in Vegas who alerted the FBI. One of the local gangsters who got involved ended up getting murdered because ASU beat the spread and people lost a lot of money. The player for ASU didn't end up getting drafted into the NBA and wound up doing prison time over it. 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Tripnsweep

[Tripnsweep]

https://vault.si.com/vault/1998/11/09/confessions-of-a-point-shaver-former-arizona-state-star-hedake-smith-reveals-how-he-and-his-accomplices-fixed-basketball-games

[RYou]

Serious stuff.  NCAA rule declares you ineligible if found to be true, black and white, no gray area here...  POOF....There goes your scholarship and you can't transfer out from under it.

There is a high probability multiple athletes from a team involved, via locker room chitchat.  For a relatively small group like wrestling, it could be devastating to the starting roster.

Don't be surprised if a few other schools make similar announcements in the near future.

[Idaho]

50 minutes ago, RYou said:

Serious stuff.  NCAA rule declares you ineligible if found to be true, black and white, no gray area here...  POOF....There goes your scholarship and you can't transfer out from under it.

There is a high probability multiple athletes from a team involved, via locker room chitchat.  For a relatively small group like wrestling, it could be devastating to the starting roster.

Don't be surprised if a few other schools make similar announcements in the near future.

Agree - year long suspension. It will be interesting to see what wrestling names come up at Iowa and ISU. They already pulled a baseball athlete from competition because of the investigation. 

 

5 hours ago, billyhoyle said:

I really hope this wasn't what happened.  That would be exceptionally egregious.  I remember in college the compliance people being very clear to not even bet on March Madness or Fantasy Football. It was made absolutely clear what the rules were, and I'm assuming it still is. 

Below is a quote from the article that states there is not evidence of actual match fixing. 

 

Brian Ohorilko, the director of gaming for the commission, said there is no evidence of match fixing or suspicious wagering activity.

"There wasn't anything giving us pause or leading us to believe that any of these markets were compromised," he told the Action Network.

[AgaveMaria]

What got the wrestlers caught was the big betting  that they would only be 5 points behind Penn State at the NCAA tournament and Spencer Lee would win 6 NCAA titles.

Iowa State... who really cares?

[PencilNeck]

Link kind of short on details. Is this student-athletes having fun with a low stakes march madness pool, or something more serious?

[ionel]

3 minutes ago, PencilNeck said:

Link kind of short on details. Is this student-athletes having fun with a low stakes march madness pool, or something more serious?

Didn't one of the articles reference that its a violation of NCAA rulls for NCAA sport student athletes, coaches, staff etc to bet on NCAA sports.  Would a good compliance officer know these things?

[Wrestleknownothing]

34 minutes ago, ionel said:

Didn't one of the articles reference that its a violation of NCAA rulls for NCAA sport student athletes, coaches, staff etc to bet on NCAA sports.  Would a good compliance officer know these things?

NCAA athletes are also banned from betting on any professional sport where the NCAA holds a championship.

[Plasmodium]

It is all about the spread.  Prominent actors straight up forfeit to manipulate scores....    JK. I bet this a gigantic nothing burger.