Basketball players formerly associated with HBCUs have been identified as part of a gambling investigation that includes 13 players from six NCAA schools.
Players from Mississippi Valley State and North Carolina A&T were named by the NCAA as being “involved in gambling schemes, including betting against their own team, game manipulation and sharing information with third parties for gambling purposes,” according to a report from ESPN.com’s David Purdum.
The violations include athletes betting on and against their own teams, sharing information with third parties for purposes of betting, knowingly manipulating scoring or game outcomes, and/or refusing to participate in the enforcement staff’s investigation.
The NCAA will not officially identify players until the punishment phase is completed, and no third parties will be identified in advance of that.
“The rise of sports betting is creating more opportunity for athletes across sports to engage in this unacceptable behavior, and while legalized sports betting is here to stay, regulators and gaming companies can do more to reduce these integrity risks by eliminating prop bets and giving sports leagues a seat at the table when setting policies,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a statement.
