Iowa baseball under sports betting investigation

26 student-athletes from the University of Iowa Baseball team have been withheld from a recent weekend series due to their implication in a sports betting investigation being conducted by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

Most notably, regular participants Keaton Anthony and Jacob Henderson among others were dropped from the playing staff when their team travelled to Ohio state. The director of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, Brian Ohorilko made this statement on the matter:

The commission takes the integrity of gaming in the state seriously and is continuing to monitor the situation and will provide any additional information when able

The specific accusations for, and the details of these competitive withdrawals themselves are as of yet unknown. The Iowa baseball team only gave a statement clarifying that the players were not present due to what they described as a “potential NCAA violation”. It is heavily implied that due to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission’s presence in the matter that there has been in some way a sports betting impropriety on behalf of the players or the program.

The NCAA were also unavailable to give further detail only reciting a similar statement to the commission and university, who have by all accounts fully complied with the investigation. What is known is that sports betting operation and activity surrounding the “Hawkeyes” has not been halted.

This investigation comes in lieu of an Alabama baseball scandal in which coach Brad Bohannon was dismissed by the school for a sports betting violation of some magnitude.

Scratching the day’s starting pitcher for their match against LSU as 2 sizable bets were placed in favour of Alabama’s opponents at the Bet MGM Sportsbook at Great American Ballpark. Conversely in this case the coach was implicated, as there was no evidence of playing staff involvement.

One has to wonder how deep this issue of impropriety stems not just in NCAA baseball but in other entities such as the NFL as well, with several players having recently received indefinite suspensions and comprehensive bans.

Perhaps a re-regulation of the governance regarding playing staff and sports betting is in order as many of the charges found to hold weight have been stated to not have altered or damaged the outcome of any respective competition with exception of Bohannon in Alabama.

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