Temple men’s basketball game flagged for suspicious gambling activity

U.S. Integrity is a company that, per its website, partners with “some of the largest professional sports leagues and collegiate conferences in the U.S., as well as licensed sports-betting operators and regulators, to ensure sports betting integrity in every play, every game, every sport.”

One of its clients is the American Athletic Conference.

And so on Thursday, U.S. Integrity alerted casinos to suspicious betting activity on an AAC men’s basketball game between Temple and Alabama Birmingham, according to a Sports Illustrated report. SI added that, according to a “source in the gambling space,” the company has been monitoring Temple games “for a while.”

SI noted that at one casino UAB went from a 1.5-point favorite to an 8.5-point favorite by midafternoon Thursday. That line then settled at seven by tip-off. Such sharp changes indicate a significant amount of money was being wagered on UAB. The Blazers eventually beat Temple, 100-72, on the road.

Temple is now 11-19 with a 4-13 conference record, tied for last place in the AAC. UAB is 19-11 with an 11-6 record in the AAC.

“Usually, if a star player is announced injured/out mid day, a line may move 1-2 points at most,” Michael Riordan told The Washington Post via email. Riordan handicaps gamesfor a betting group called Right Angle Sports, which specializes in college basketball and football. He added that, in 16 years of professional sports betting, he has “never witnessed a line move in the irregular fashion this one did.”

“In this case, there was no information to cause the move,” he continued. “You didn’t need U.S. Integrity’s fancy software to see something was very very wrong here. The entire industry was buzzing at what was going on.”

SI’s initial report included confirmation from an AAC spokesperson that U.S. Integrity had flagged the game. The conference declined to comment to The Washington Post on Friday and referred to a statement made by a spokesman for Temple men’s basketball.

“We are aware of the media reports regarding last night’s men’s basketball game,” the Temple spokesman said in a statement Friday. “We will review the reports thoroughly in accordance with university and NCAA policies. While we can’t comment any further at this time, we take this matter very seriously.”

Last spring, U.S. Integrity was involved in uncovering suspicious betting activity around the University of Alabama’s baseball team. That led to the firing of Alabama coach Brad Bohannon. An NCAA investigation revealed Bohannon provided insider information to a bettor wagering big money on Crimson Tide games.

Multiple sports gambling experts said the time of year of the Temple-UAB game probably raised red flags. Earlier in the basketball season — say, in November or December — it would be less notable if a casino erred with its initial line and had to move it as bets rolled in. But by March, there is so much data on players and teams that it was much more curious when a line leaped a few points (or more). Riordan also noted that a team “could announce three starters out and [a line] wouldn’t move six points.”

“Games have likely been compromised in the last few years that we are unaware of and will never find out about,” Riordan said in his email, adding that U.S. Integrity probably flags hundreds of games per year. “Not suggesting it is widespread, but I think it’s naive to think it never happens. There are methods to getting down money bet-wise that will not move the market or [will] move the market a nominal amount.

“There are professionals betting large sums of money on a daily basis moving the market either not at all or a half point/one point maximum. What is unique about [Thursday’s] situation is that it felt somewhat sloppy.”

So what might have happened? Riordan guessed that someone was either “very brazen” with their bets — or, if bettors were privy to information they shouldn’t have been, the circle of people expanded “well outside of someone’s control.” He explained that other bettors might have sensed something going on, leading to even more wagers on UAB. “If you were going to fix a game,” he concluded, “there is no way you wanted to move a line from -2 to -8.”

The NCAA has made gambling regulation a key part of its agenda. Late last month, the state of Ohio announced it would no longer allow player-specific prop bets in college sports. This was a direct result of the NCAA’s lobbying efforts, with the organization’s president, Charlie Baker, saying a key goal was to mitigate harassment of individual players.

A day after the Ohio regulation passed, Baker attended a National Governors Association event in Washington. The reason for his visit, among others, was to convince more states to follow Ohio and give the NCAA a seat at the table in gambling discussions.

“You literally could have certain situations where somebody just says: ‘Look, you’re my friend. We’ve been friends for a long time. I lost $500 last week because you didn’t play well,’ ” Baker said. “ ‘And I still love you, but I got to make rent next week, and all I need you to do is miss your first two free throws. I don’t want you to throw the game away. I just want you to do something that’s going to make it possible for me to pay my rent.’

“I just think that is happening right now, and it’s just going to happen a lot more. I really do feel we’re sort of in the top of the first inning of this thing.”