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The NCAA said protecting the “integrity” of its sport was “of the utmost importance” to the organization after at least 26 people were charged Thursday in connection with fixing college basketball games, and urged states to “prohibit risky betting.”
Prosecutors said the alleged participants bribed Chinese Basketball Federation players in 2022 “to underperform and help ensure their team failed to cover the spread in some games and then, through various sports booksorganized large bets on these matches against this team.
The following year, the participants allegedly extended their scheme to the NCAA, recruiting players and paying bribes of between $10,000 and $30,000 per game.
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NCAA President Charlie Baker and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell announce a children’s gaming prevention program during a news conference at TD Garden. The package includes a school curriculum on the risks of gambling that will be rolled out to schools across the state, as well as new funding for research aimed at understanding the scale of the problem. (Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
According to the indictment, more than 39 players from 17 different teams attempted to fix more than 29 NCAA Division I men’s basketball games, including conference tournaments. The organizers of the alleged scheme placed bets totaling millions of dollars.
“Protecting the integrity of competitions is of the utmost importance to the NCAA. We are grateful to law enforcement who work to detect and combat integrity issues and game manipulation in college sports,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement.
Baker said the indictments were “not entirely new information for the NCAA” because it had conducted “integrity investigations into approximately 40 student-athletes from 20 schools over the past year.”
The NCAA logo on the entrance sign outside of NCAA headquarters on February 28, 2023 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Federal prosecutors charge 26 people for allegedly fixing college basketball games as part of widespread conspiracy
The NCAA added that 11 athletes from seven schools “recently bet on their own performances, shared information with known bettors, and/or participated in gambling manipulation to collect bets placed on them — or others — and have since been permanently banned.
“Additionally, 13 student-athletes from eight schools (including some of those identified above) failed to cooperate with the sports betting integrity investigation by providing false or misleading information, failing to provide relevant documentation, and/or refusing to be interviewed by law enforcement personnel. None of them are participating today,” Baker added.
Baker also called on states to crack down on “integrity threats,” particularly prop betting, “to better protect athletes and leagues from integrity risks and predatory bettors.” We will also continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement. We urge all student-athletes to make informed choices to avoid jeopardizing the game and their eligibility.
The charges filed Thursday included bribery in sports competitions, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud.
“[Defendants] “He aided and abetted the implementation, attempted implementation, and conspiracy to carry out a business scheme to corruptly influence sporting competitions, namely, Chinese Basketball Association (“CBA”) men’s basketball games and National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) men’s basketball games, with Defendants engaging in various aspects of this scheme, knowing that the purpose of this scheme was to somehow influence these competitions through corruption,” the indictment states.
General view of the SEC men’s basketball tournament championship game between the University of Kentucky Wildcats and the University of Florida Gators at the Georgia Dome on March 14, 2004, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
The announcement follows the federal government’s crackdown on illicit sports gambling and point-splitting schemes involving the NBA in October.
