The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dropped a bombshell indictment last Thursday involving a gambling scheme to fix college basketball and Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) games. The indictment alleged that 39 NCAA basketball players were involved in a point-shaving scheme going back to the ’23-’24 season. U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said at the January 15 press conference:
“The stakes here are far higher than anything on a bet slip. The criminal charges we have filed allege the criminal corruption of collegiate athletics through an international conspiracy of NCAA players, alumni, and professional bettors. It’s also yet another blow to public confidence in the integrity of sport, which rests on the fundamental principles of fairness, honesty, and respect for the rules of competition.”
When the Kentucky General Assembly legalized gambling on sporting events in 2023, few could have imagined that same year an international gambling syndicate concocted a plan to corrupt NCAA college players to fix games. The Department of Justice alleged that the syndicate raked in millions, paid 26 players bribes ranging between $10,000 and $30,000 per game, and fixed 29 games.
Kentucky basketball wasn’t involved. Yet, according to the indictment, an illegal $50,000 bet was placed at a Kentucky casino that the University of Southern Mississippi would beat Alabama State. (The casino rejected the huge bet placed by Charlotte-based trainer Jalen Smith, but would have allowed him to wager $860.) Let’s hope that’s the closest to corruption that we’ll see in the Commonwealth. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
Kentucky legislators favored legalizing sports gambling as a potential new revenue stream. At the time, $27 million was projected to come into state coffers. It exceeded that after its first year. Lawmakers further argued that the wildly popular activity should be taken out of the shadows, regulated and monitored by the state, and removed from the grip of potential corruption. Few saw the move as removing important guardrails that shielded student-athletes from temptation and pressures. The harassment and bullying of ballplayers wasn’t even on the radar.
Imagine being a UK ballplayer who missed the game-winning shot at Rupp and the next day having to sit next to a classmate who made a bet on that particular player’s performance. Not every college ballplayer will be bribed or even tempted. But every student-athlete literally has to live with their classmates daily, and some will be bullied. According to an NCAA survey released in November, 36% of Division I men’s basketball players were harassed via social media last year.
The same day that the Department of Justice indictment dropped, NCAA President Charlie Baker called on state gambling commissions to ban “gambling on individual prop bets and other high-risk prop bets such as first half unders.” A prop bet is a wager on a particular player’s performance, in-game events, or team milestones. It might involve how many 3-pointers a player might make or how many points a team scores in a half.
Prop betting makes individual players vulnerable to bribes. They have also opened a floodgate of threats to student-athletes who underperform—even if it is not their fault. Baker is deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of college athletes. He’s also concerned about the integrity of some 22,000 NCAA competitions in a school year. Heeding Baker’s request may not be a priority for the 2026 General Assembly. But, dare I say, believing Kentucky college sports won’t eventually be corrupted is a risky proposition.