Gambling ‘Syndicate’ College Basketball

Dozens of suspicious bets made by gamblers were recently flagged by sportsbooks.¹ These suspicious bets were made “against the same small-conference teams in at least 11 men’s college basketball games over six weeks last season.”² The NCAA and federal authorities have been investigating “alleged point-shaving in college basketball.”³ The new documents reveal alleged gambling in the games between December 1st, 2024, and January 2025.⁴

In addition, nine sportsbooks in thirteen different states and a Canadian province have also found similar betting activity.⁵ An email was sent by IC360, which is “a firm that monitors the betting market for abnormalities.”⁶ The activity was caught because gamblers were betting large amounts of money against the same team and consistently winning.⁷

Sources have told ESPN that the FBI is continuing to interview college athletes.⁸ It was stated that these sources are familiar with the investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.⁹ However, a spokesperson for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania refused to comment on this matter.¹⁰

At this point, it is not clear whether the syndicate is behind all the flagged bets.¹¹ For example, gamblers bet against New Orleans in four different games.¹² These games included McNeese State, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and Southeastern Louisiana.¹³ Four New Orleans players were suspended for alleged gambling last January.¹⁴ See also https://ublawsportsforum.com/2025/09/22/from-courtside-to-courts-ncaa-gambling-crisis-widens/.

Tim Buckley, NCAA senior vice president for external affairs, made a statement to ESPN regarding this issue: “’Protecting the integrity of the game and preventing student-athletes from making bad decisions is a massive undertaking and requires athlete education, collaboration between sportsbook, regulators and sports leagues.’”¹⁵ The NCAA also “hopes more states will outlaw prop bets and shut down black-market sites.”¹⁶

The 2025-26 college basketball season starts Monday, November 3rd.¹⁷ Will more suspicious bets get flagged this season? This also raises the concern of gambling in other sports.¹⁸ On November 1st, it is expected that the NCAA will allow college athletes to begin betting on professional sports.¹⁹ NBA figures were recently arrested due to gambling and “rigged illegal poker games run by the Mafia.”²⁰ The NFL has not dealt with this, but some believe it is “just a matter of time before the NFL is dealing with a gambling scandal of its own.”²¹

1. David Purdum, Records show gambling ‘syndicate’ targeted NCAA basketball, ESPN (Oct. 17, 2025) https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/46607545/records-gambling-syndicate-ncaa-basketball-suspicious-bets ↩︎
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18. Mike Florio, Gambling “syndicate” apparently targeted college basketball, Yahoo Sports (Oct. 18, 2025) https://sports.yahoo.com/article/gambling-syndicate-apparently-targeted-college-132748209.html ↩︎
19. Rodney Knuppel, NCAA Athletes Cleared To Bet On Pro Sports Starting November 1, Busting Brackets (Oct. 24, 2025) https://bustingbrackets.com/ncaa-athletes-cleared-to-bet-on-pro-sports-starting-november-1-basketball ↩︎
20. David Waldstein, What We Know About the Gambling Cases Involving N.B.A. Players, The New York Times (Oct. 23, 2025) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/nyregion/nba-gambling-scandal-explained.html ↩︎
21. Florio, supra note 18. ↩︎

Featured Image: Grant Mitchell, Gambling Ring Repeatedly Targeted Small-Conference NCAA Hoops Teams Last Season, Yahoo Sports (Oct. 17, 2025) https://sports.yahoo.com/article/gambling-group-repeatedly-targeted-small-174400746.html