Matt Holt is a busy man these days, a fellow much in demand. Holt serves as CEO of U.S. Integrity, the company that focuses on ensuring the new world of sports betting avoids scandal and unsavory outcomes.
Last year, he and his staff visited five collegiate athletic departments for sports wagering educational sessions. This year, he’s received requests from some 50 schools.
“It’s been unbelievable growth,” Holt told Sports Handle.
And much needed, given the growing number of wagering related violations. Former Alabama baseball head coach Brad Bohannon was fired after it came to light—thanks in part to U.S. Integrity’s work—that he allegedly shared inside information with an Ohio bettor.
Iowa and Iowa State made it known that numerous current athletes were under investigation for infractions. Some players reportedly bet on their own games. Iowa State defensive lineman Isaiah Lee allegedly bet against his team in a game he played.
With increased education comes increasing focus from student athletes during the 90-minute presentations and Q&A sessions in recent weeks.
Last year, Virginia Tech linebacker Alan Tisdale served a six-game suspension for betting on the NBA Finals from a FanDuel account. Tisdale didn’t try to hide his identity or cover his tracks like some do. Mostly he was clueless about the NCAA rules.
“He mistakenly believed that sports wagering was OK since the Virginia state law had changed,” Derek Gwinn, Virginia Tech’s senior associate athletic director for compliance, told Sports Handle.
Virginia Tech covers sports wagering rules with each team at the beginning and end of every academic year. The athletic department also sends electronic communications, particularly before major sporting events like the Super Bowl.
Holt and his company will visit “basically every SEC school, every Big 12 school,” and then about 25 other colleges.
Presentations are tweaked for each school. For example, during Holt’s visits to Alabama’s football program, he’ll bring up the NFL suspension of former Crimson Tide wide receiver Jameson Williams.
“I do think it hits home a lot better when you can use relevant recent case studies as examples,” Holt said.
The NCAA includes information on its webpage about its sports wagering rules, and some conferences lend a hand to individual schools for educational matters. The MAC provides a basic template to its member schools for sports wagering education.
The MAC, which features 12 full-member schools competing in five states where sports betting is legal. Those schools will develop additional educational materials than the other schools.
“The idea is that it’s not a once a year or a once a semester check-the-box type of thing,” MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher told Sports Handle.
“You learn by repetition.”
A lot of rules and laws are new, Holt said. “These young men and women change schools so frequently now. At the end of the day, you’re talking [about] people in new states with new laws and new regulations.”
The NCAA recently changed its punishment system for sports betting violators. Those changes are part of the education program for U.S. Integrity. State laws change as well. Sports betting goes live in the next several months, like North Carolina and Kentucky.
“Some of them don’t realize that in the state they’re in, betting on their own team, even if they bet on themselves to do something positive, is actually a felony,” Holt said. “It’s a crime.”
Holt’s company helps play an important role in detecting illicit sports betting activity.
“This isn’t about just doing a job, just providing a service. This is about us at U.S. Integrity doing the very best we can to; hopefully teach some of these men and women something, to at least have them learn something that they didn’t know,” Holt told Sports Handle.
