Iowa, Iowa State student-athletes involved in betting scandal
The University of Iowa and Iowa State University are cracking down on some of their student-athletes for gambling on sports. The Hawkeyes are investigating 26 athletes for violating NCAA rules, with the baseball, basketball, football, track and field, and wrestling teams all having players suspected of wrongdoing. Iowa also has one-full time employee that appears to have gotten caught. Meanwhile, Iowa State has 15 athletes across its football, track and field, and wrestling teams that violated gambling rules.
The Hawkeyes found that “111 individuals” were involved in gambling in some capacity, but only 26 of them are currently connected to the athletic department. However, this all makes for a rather messy situation, as players are surely looking at significant punishment because of this. NCAA rules state that college athletes can’t bet on any sport in which the NCAA has its own championship. So, while it might be legal for people to bet on sports in Iowa, it is still prohibited for student-athletes.
The University of Iowa’s leadership was notified of some issues on May 2nd. However, it was the Iowa Gaming Commission that tipped things off on a national scale, as it announced on Monday, May 8th that it was investigating Iowa athletics. People became increasingly suspicious that something was going on when an athlete was unexpectedly held out of the lineup in a meeting between Iowa and the Ohio State Buckeyes in baseball.
This is just the most recent example of the high-profile issues that gambling has presented in college and professional sports. Just last week, the Alabama Crimson Tide had to fire head coach Brad Bohannon after he got himself involved in betting on a meeting between Alabama and the LSU Tigers on the diamond. And a couple of weeks earlier, Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams and four other NFL players were suspended for betting on sports.
It should be noted that Brian Ohorilko, the Director of Gaming for the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, did say that none of the student-athletes are suspected of match fixing. The same can’t be said for Alabama’s Bohannon, who was directly linked to somebody that was betting against his Crimson Tide team. While all of this is alarming for a lot of reasons, match fixing presents one of the biggest challenges to overcome as sports gambling becomes more and more available. Nobody wants the integrity of any game to be compromised. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating these incidents. But no irregular wagers have been found. It was two suspicious bets that ended up doing Bohannon in.