Iowa State QB Hunter Dekker accused of betting on Cyclones football
Iowa State quarterback Hunter Dekkers was accused of placing wagers that violated state laws and NCAA and university rules in a criminal complaint involving a misdemeanor charge of tampering with records.
Dekkers, 22, started all 12 games last season for the Cyclones as a redshirt sophomore and had been expected to remain the starter this season. He could face a permanent loss of collegiate eligibility under NCAA guidelines regarding student-athletes found to have wagered on their own games or on other sports at their schools.
Prosecutors in Story County, where the university is located, cited subpoenaed phone records in alleging that Dekkers placed 26 wagers on Iowa State sporting events, including one involving a 2021 Cyclones football game against Oklahoma State. Dekkers, a backup at the time to current San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, did not play in the game.
In the criminal complaint, Dekkers was accused of breaking Iowa law by placing approximately 297 of his 366 total wagers over the past two years while he was under 21. The complaint said he created a false profile in the DraftKings platform by using the name of his mother, Jami, to “avoid detection and the potential consequences of prohibited activity.”
KCCI) that the Cyclones star told his coaches that he cannot participate in the team’s preseason training camp. Dekkers plans to plead not guilty to the tampering charge, the firm said.
“This charge attempts to criminalize a daily fact of American life,” the Des Moines-based Weinhardt Law Firm said. “Millions of people share online accounts of all kinds every day. … Thousands and thousands of college athletes place bets — usually very small ones — with shared accounts. That is for the schools and the NCAA to police.”
Jami Dekkers and the quarterback’s father, Scott, were accused in the criminal complaint of having “engaged in a scheme” with their son to “disguise his identity.” Evidence of his illicit wagering was said to have been uncovered this year by agents with the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation, which announced in May it was looking into possible sports betting at Iowa State and the University of Iowa.
The University of Iowa then said it had alerted the NCAA to potential violations stemming from possible gambling-related actions by 26 Hawkeyes athletes across a number of sports. Around that time in May, Iowa State said that it was aware of similar alleged activity by 15 of its athletes and that it had notified the NCAA.
“We are in the process of gathering information and will have no further comment at this time,” Iowa State senior associate athletic director Nick Joos said Tuesday in a statement to the Associated Press.
Three other current and former Iowa State athletes, including Denver Broncos defensive end Eyioma Uwazurike, were also the subjects of criminal complaints filed Tuesday that used information gathered in the DCI probe to charge them with tampering with records. Uwazurike, Iowa State wrestler Paniro Johnson and Cyclones offensive lineman Dodge Sauser were accused of using others’ identities to disguise illicit usage of major online wagering platforms.
Uwazurike, a 2022 fourth-round draft pick by Denver, was accused in the complaint of placing bets on games involving his Broncos last year, as well as on Cyclones games in 2021. He was suspended indefinitely by the NFL last week.
Authorities said Dekkers wagered approximately $2,800 over his 366 bets.
He threw for more than 3,000 yards last season, with 19 passing touchdowns and two more on the ground, and was an all-Big 12 honorable mention. For the second straight year, Dekkers made the academic all-Big 12 second team.
Dekkers’s attorneys said he “has been the model student athlete, with the first emphasis on student,” from boyhood.
“The [DCI] investigation has been an immense distraction,” the law firm said, “from Hunter’s ability to be a good student and a great teammate.”
