Former Hawkeye receiver pleads guilty to underage gambling
IOWA CITY — Former University of Iowa Hawkeyes receiver Arland Bruce IV pleaded guilty Friday to underage gambling with a stipulation that prosecutors wouldn’t file any related charges against another individual whose name Bruce used to place bets.
Bruce, 20, originally charged with tampering with records, entered a written plea in Johnson County Associate District Court, admitting to a lesser charge of underage gambling, a simple misdemeanor. He faces a $645 fine.
In the plea agreement, Bruce, who entered the transfer portal in 2022 and now plays for Oklahoma State, admitted to placing the bets on sporting events on or about March 12, 2021.
He also waived the one-year statute of limitations regarding the charge.
According to the plea, Johnson County prosecutors won’t pursue additional charges and will not prosecute Vincent Bruce for any conduct admitted to in Arland Bruce’s written plea of guilty.
Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith said she couldn’t provide further information regarding the relationship between Vincent and Arland Bruce.
The criminal complaint stated that Arland Bruce engaged in a scheme with Vincent Bruce, who was 21 or older, to enable Arland Bruce to disguise his identity and make sports wagers under Vincent Bruce’s name through a DraftKings account. Arland Bruce also allowed Harry “Reggy” Bracy, a former Hawkeye also charged, to use the Vincent Bruce name to place bets.
Bruce made 11 wagers on six games he participated in during the 2021 season and eight wagers in five games that he appeared in during the 2022 season, according to the complaint.
The wide receiver’s wagers allegedly included an “under total points” bet on Iowa’s 2022 game against Northwestern. He had two receptions and three carries in the 33-13 win. Bruce also bet the “under total points” on Iowa’s 2022 Music City Bowl win although he did not participate in the game, the complaint stated.
An “under” bet means a bet that the total score of the game will fall short of an outcome projected by the gambling companies. In other words, Bruce, whose job as a Hawkeye was to help his team score as many points as possible, placed a bet that the teams combined would score fewer points than projected.
But the score of the Northwestern game beat the projection, meaning Bruce lost the bet.
Court documents stated Bruce made 132 wagers totaling “over $4,342,” which included wagers on other teams and sports.
The betting activity from Bruce and others charged was allegedly “routinely and consistently placed” from their cellphones and included “areas of the university not routinely open to the public,” according to the complaints.
At least five Iowa or Iowa State University student-athletes allegedly placed illegal bets on games in which they participated, according to charges filed by prosecutors.
Despite that, the state agency that regulates Iowa’s gambling industry insists there is no evidence the integrity of those games has been called into question. In other words, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission insists based on the information it has that those athletes did nothing during those games to attempt to alter the outcome or win their own bets.
Sixteen current and former Iowa and Iowa State student-athletes and other individuals have been charged with placing illegal bets in the wake of an investigation announced earlier this year by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
The charges of tempering with records involve underage betting, which experts said typically is caught by regulators thanks to technology that can place the precise location at which a bet is placed online.
More student-athletes beyond those facing criminal charges may be facing penalties from the NCAA, the body that governs college athletics, for violating its rules against betting on college sports.
