Integrity. Even the company that sells it uses it in its name: U.S. Integrity. If that doesn’t keep teams on the straight and narrow, nothing will. With a proliferation of controversies over the summer, U.S. Integrity arrived at the right time it seems.
What U.S. Integrity does is keep the wolf from the door in more than one way. With numerous Iowa and Iowa State players snared in a scandal of sorts, two big-time college conferences signed on with U.S. Integrity in hopes of avoiding infractions when it comes to sports wagering.
The Big 12 Conference announced a partnership with the sports betting monitor, with the idea being that U.S. Integrity is to stop wagering that isn’t on the up-and-up according to the rules.
The Big 12 will use the software and other resources of U.S. Integrity, which include annual on-site training and weekly monitoring of their system.
“The Big 12 Conference is thrilled to partner with U.S. Integrity as a continuation of its commitment to sports betting compliance,” said Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark in a statement. “Given the current landscape of sports betting in our industry, it’s more important than ever to double-down on ensuring sport integrity across our Conference.”
U.S. Integrity will also grant access to ProhiBet, which provides online betting sites with encrypted data transfer solutions to ensure players coaches and staff adhere to state regulations.
The Mountain West Conference will also use ProhiBet, which includes the Air Force Academy, Boise State, Nevada and other schools.
The two conferences signed up in the wake of tampering charges against Iowa State University quarterback Hunter Dekkers, based on an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations.
Iowa State athletes Dodge Sauser and Paniro Johnson were also charged with tampering—Johnson reportedly bet more than 1,280 times.
Let’s get serious, college teams can avail themselves of a new program under the partnership with U.S. Integrity and RealResponse where they can alert the administration regarding suspected gambling activity among students.
Such a tool expands a tipline launched in May called Athlete Alert Powered by RealResponse, which lets athletes report improper or illegal conduct by coaches or teammates. With the new system, administrators have a direct line to investigators.
The tool monitors sports betting trends in real time to pick up irregularities, available at no cost to 150 athletic department clients.
Parents, friends and competitors can sign up. The companies note that for an additional paid service, anyone from parents to friends to competitors can file reports.
Athletes will be able to open their existing RealResponse webpage and report suspected misuse of insider information, potential game manipulation and physical threats related to gambling and other issues.
U.S. Integrity investigators will assess, verify and route the report to appropriate authorities.
Iowa State is a RealResponse client; Iowa has a relationship with U.S. Integrity through the Big Ten Conference.
“With the significant rise of easy-to-use online and mobile sports betting, the challenges to fair competition are immense and growing,” said David Chadwick, founder and CEO of RealResponse.
“Nothing is more important than protecting the health and wellbeing of the student-athletes who have committed their lives to competing at the highest levels, while simultaneously pursuing a higher education,” added U.S. Integrity Co-Founder and CEO Matthew Holt. “This new solution brings the capabilities and experience of U.S. Integrity and RealResponse together, to do just that.”
Back to Iowa, center of the scandals of the moment. Lots of punishments doled out. Lots of new regs. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission wants operators to take new steps to communicate these rules to users.
Here’s a handful:
- Messages need to be displayed clearly on apps and websites;
- Each wager shall be made by only the registered account holder only;
- Persons under the age of 21 are prohibited from wagering; and
- Bettors must verify their account once every seven days.
Public comments on the proposed new rules are due on October 10.
In related news, Tulane University also took actions to stop information sharing with the wrong elements. Coaches and staff must sign a non-disclosure agreement, one run by Sports Illustrated for approval. The agreement oversees confidential information, whether it be financial, educational or medical records, all of which may be of importance to bettors. Coaches and other staff received the form on August 21.
The documents insist that unauthorized information must be sent to the CFO of the department.
“Failure to abide by this Confidentiality Statement may subject me to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment,” the document reads.
“There have been incidents around the country where the intersection of gambling and college athletics have come to the forefront,” Tulane Athletic Director Troy Dannen told SI.
“There’s also information that you hold because you’re around the athletes, you’re around the training room, you’re around the academic advisers. There’s information you hold that can also be used for gambling purposes, and that information needs to stay closely held for the protection of the athlete and the protection of the integrity of the game.”
No one has dealt with an incident involving inside information; this is a precautionary step to stop scandals.
“If you or anyone [on staff] and do not sign this, there will not be a place for you in this particular athletic department,” Dannen told SI. “This is athletic department staff, managers, student managers, tutors, anybody that works, whether as a volunteer or an employee of the athletic department. Anyone that would have access to information.”
If an equipment staffer happens to walk by the training room and sees a star player with multiple doctors, that could potentially be valuable information to a bettor. Athletes need not sign the form. However, that forbids coaches and athletes from sports betting or providing information to bettors. How athletes share information is its own separate issue.
“It’s a fine line,” Dannen told SI. If the backup quarterback finds out he’s starting on Saturday, you don’t want to tell him he can’t tell [his] parents he’s starting on Saturday.”
Schools across the country have been trying to find ways to educate players and staff regarding gambling. A college administrator told SI that, multiple times, their coaches were emailed last season asking for inside information by bettors. Tulane is also no stranger to the impact gambling can have on an athletic department: A men’s basketball point-shaving scandal in the 1980s ended up forcing the program to disband for two years, and multiple people, including athletes, were indicted.
More recently, sources told SI that a foot injury forced starting quarterback Michael Pratt to wear a walking boot in December as a precautionary measure in the lead-up to the Cotton Bowl against USC. The news of the injury didn’t leak but could have heavily influenced the betting line, which had minimal movement from the time it opened in early December to the game’s kickoff on January 2, which the Green Wave won outright as a slight underdog.
