Alabama baseball betting suspended in Ohio after ‘suspicious wagering’ in LSU game

The NCAA is looking into an ESPN report Monday that the state of Ohio has halted betting on Alabama baseball games after a third-party monitor detected “suspicious wagering activity” involving last Friday’s game against LSU.

“The NCAA takes sports wagering very seriously and is committed to the protection of student-athlete well-being and the integrity of competition,” the organization said in a statement Tuesday to AL.com. “We are aware of this issue and actively gathering additional information.”

NCAA rules prohibit “participation in sports wagering activities and from providing information to individuals involved in or associated with any type of sports wagering activities concerning intercollegiate, amateur or professional athletics competition,” according to the organization’s website.

“Alabama Athletics became aware of this situation Monday evening and is actively seeking information about the report,” the University of Alabama’s athletic department said in a statement Tuesday evening.

The Southeastern Conference has not yet responded to a request for comment made Monday evening by AL.com.

ESPN reported Monday, and AL.com has since confirmed, that the Ohio Casino Control Commission ordered the state’s legal sports books Monday to stop accepting bets on Alabama baseball games. That came after U.S. Integrity, a Las Vegas-group that monitors gambling data to detect abnormalities and misuse of insider information, sent a warning to its clients after Friday’s game.

The bets in question were placed Friday at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, ESPN reported Tuesday. The Cincinnati Reds were on a road trip in Oakland, California at the time.

Ronnie Johns, the chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, told NOLA.com that one of the bets was a parlay involving the Alabama-LSU game, and another was a “large” straight-up bet on the game. Both wagered LSU would win.

“That in itself indicates that there’s definitely no suspicious activity on the part of LSU,” Johns told NOLA.com. “You don’t typically suspect the team that was picked to win the game. The problem would have been whether someone on the Alabama side was suspicious of activity.”

Added Johns to NOLA.com: “Just because it was a suspicious activity doesn’t necessarily mean there was any kind of illegal activity. We just don’t know yet. There are red flags in terms of sports betting that go up when you see a large bet like that, kind of an isolated bet.”

FanDuel, a major national sports book, has since removed all Alabama baseball games from its betting menu in the states in which it operates as a precaution, according to ESPN.

Alabama lost, 8-6, in Baton Rouge on Friday to top-ranked LSU. Alabama sophomore pitcher Luke Holman was scheduled to start the game, but according to UA’s game recap, reliever Hagan Banks was told “an hour before” first pitch that he would be starting in Holman’s place.

Alabama scored five runs in the final two innings, but their late rally came up short. The Tide was swept by the Tigers, dropping the Tide to 30-15 (9-12 SEC).

The Tide hosts Vanderbilt for a three-game series beginning Thursday.