The Big 12 is hiring U.S. Integrity to monitor sports betting across the conference watching for irregular betting patterns and, more importantly, to insure that student athletes are not betting on their own teams. It’s a case of closing the barn door after the horses have run out, since the league is already dealing with a player sports betting scandal at Iowa State.
While all sports rely on integrity monitoring services like U.S. Integrity, the need to monitor college-level players, who are particularly vulnerable to criminal elements because of their age and maturity, is particularly important for the Big 12. To that end, U.S. Integrity is providing the league with access to a tool called Prohibet. Probhibet is an electronic tool that helps monitor potential betting by staff and players.
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark really understated the severity of the problem of student athletes betting on their own teams and the new partnership in a recent press release saying, “The Big 12 Conference is thrilled to partner with U.S. Integrity as a continuation of its commitment to sports betting compliance. Given the current landscape of sports betting in our industry, it’s more important than ever to double-down on ensuring sport integrity across our Conference.”
Matt Heap, Managing Director of ProhiBet, who also was the head of the Colorado Division of Gaming’s Sportsbook operations chimed in his thoughts on the new deal saying, “We are thrilled to partner with the Big 12 — the combination of ProhiBet’s state-of-the-art encrypted data transfer system and the Big 12’s dedication to upholding the integrity of sports will undoubtedly enhance the transparency and trustworthiness of collegiate sports betting activities.”
With college football season starting this weekend, Big 12 officials are hoping to stop player betting in its tracks, but it seems inevitable that the Iowa State scandal won’t be an anomaly.