PHILADELPHIA – Temple University will review reports showing that at least one game involving its men's basketball team has been flagged by game monitoring company US Integrity for unusual betting activity.
The betting line for Thursday night's game between Temple and UAB emerged from the Blazers opening as a 2-point favorite to the spread reaching 8 points, according to tracking website Covers.com. UAB made up the difference with a 100-72 victory at Temple.
“We are aware of media reports regarding last night's men's basketball game,” Temple said Friday in a statement. “We will review the reports carefully in accordance with university and NCAA policies. While we cannot comment further at this time, we take this matter very seriously.”
The Owls are members of the American Athletic Conference, which confirmed it is a US Integrity customer and had no additional comment. US Integrity did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A UAB spokesperson declined to comment, adding, “This does not apply to us.”
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said it “received the alert and is reviewing the matter to see if there is any impact on Pennsylvania.”
The point spread can change drastically when bookmakers take money on one side of the game. The line could be suspect if, for example, an overwhelming amount of money came to UAB, unusual for an unimportant college basketball game without major injuries or suspensions to key players.
Several sportsbooks in the U.S. and abroad told ESPN's David Purdum that they detected suspicious betting activity at UAB. Caesars Sportsbook and FanDuel were among the sportsbooks that stopped betting on the game. Both companies are cooperating with the US Integrity investigation. A FanDuel spokesperson told ESPN that bets on UAB deemed suspicious were rejected.
Sources familiar with the overseas sports betting market said they also saw an influx of betting interest at UAB, which began Thursday morning and ultimately resulted in the game being taken off the board.
At Westgate, which has sportsbooks in nine states, the line went from 2½ points to 8 at one point. Jay Kornegay, director of racing and sports at Westgate Las Vegas, said that once the line reached 7, the money was even on both sides, which is usually an indication that the game is level. Sports betting managers are often suspicious when there is an excessive amount of bets on one side.
“We looked at it closely to monitor any type of late injury,” Kornegay said of the Temple-UAB game. “But when we looked at the score, everyone played. It's a big move and that's not normal, but we didn't see anything suspicious.”
The Owls were outrebounded by UAB 41-19, their worst margin since being outrebounded by 26 against Cincinnati in January 2019.
Temple is just 11-19 in coach Adam Fisher's first season and plays its regular-season finale Sunday in San Antonio against UTSA. The Owls open the conference tournament next week in Fort Worth, Texas.
The growth of legal sports betting in the United States, especially among college-aged people, has raised concerns about increased stress on athletes and greater potential for irregularities. NCAA President Charlie Baker said this year that the NCAA is trying to modify the “draconian” penalties college athletes face for violating rules regarding sports betting.
The issue made headlines last year in two high-profile cases. About two dozen Iowa State and Iowa athletes were criminally charged after a state investigation into illegal sports betting; Some charges were dropped after investigators were found to have misused tracking software that detected mobile betting apps open at Iowa State sports facilities.
That happened shortly after Alabama fired its baseball coach amid an investigation into suspicious betting related to a Crimson Tide game at LSU; Brad Bohannon was accused of providing information to a player who used it to place illegal bets against the Crimson Tide.
In May, US Integrity launched a tip line to help athletes, coaches and staff anonymously report suspected gambling activities to regulators and authorities.
Information from David Purdum of ESPN and The Associated Press was used in this report.
