Sportsbetting and insider-game-fixing used to go hand in hand. This dates back over a century, with the most famous incident being the Black Sox Scandal of 1919, where the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, in exchange for bribes paid by a gambling syndicate.
The potential for match-fixing was the reason that betting on Nevada sports teams wasn't allowed in Nevada, and partially why no major sports teams were considered for the Las Vegas market until fairly recently.
Today, this issue has mostly taken care of itself. Players in the "big four" sports -- MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL -- make so much money that they would never risk their careers to help fix games. The current environment of overpaid athletes had the side effect of making these players impossible to bribe!
However, college sports are a different story. There is still the potential for game fixing at the college level, though again, college athletes with a big future potential payday down the road wouldn't likely participate. But what about the coaches? They might be a different story, especially in an environment where there's far less public scrutiny than the pros.
Unlike football and basketball, college baseball simply isn't a big betting sport. Part of this is because most of the best young baseball players go through the minor league baseball system, and not the college system. This is different than basketball and football, where almost all future NFL and NBA greats go through the college system, save for a few major talents who jump to the NBA after high school. There is simply less public interest in college baseball than the other two sports.
Now we have a scandal in college baseball which harkens back to the old days -- a coach allegedly taking a major action to fix a game against his own team, and communicating by telephone to the person on the other side placing the bets.
Brad Bohannon has coached Alabama since 2018, and compiled a fairly good 166-124 record. He is 48 years old.
Despite being fired on May 4 amid the scandal, he is still listed on Alabama's web page as the coach: https://rolltide.com/sports/baseball...d-bohannon/792
Bohannon is accused of abruptly changing the planned starting pitcher, Luke Holman, shortly before the beginning of the April 28th game against LSU. He was replaced by Hagan Banks, who is not nearly as good as Holman. The betting line on the heavily favored Alabama Crimson Tide was -245, largely because of Holman's abilities. With Banks starting instead, betting the other side of that game would bring huge value, getting paid better than 2-to-1 on the bet on LSU.
The official reason listed for Holman's scratching was "back tightness". It is possible that Holman really had a tight back, and really would have been scratched, even if Bohannon was coaching honestly. However, the problem is that apparently Bohannon was caught on video making a phone call to a person placing a large wager on LSU through a legalized Ohio sportsbook, prior to that pitching change being publicly announced. If this is true as reported, this is obviously very illegal, as Bohannon was at the very least communicating inside information (regarding a decision he made, no less) to someone betting on a game involving his team.
Banks got clobbered for 4 runs in 3 innings, and it was 8-1 LSU after 7 innings. Alabama put up 5 runs in the 8th and 9th, but it wasn't enough, and LSU emerged victorious.
So how did this get caught?
It's hard to get down big bets on non-major sporting events these days without arousing suspicion. A company called US Integrity, based out of Las Vegas, has contracts with most of the states with legalized sportsbetting in the US to monitor betting activity, and to alert books when something suspicious is going on. They also have a contract with the SEC, which regulates college athletics. US Integrity indicated there was "unusual" betting activity placed at a Bet MGM sportsbook at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. It is possible that the Ohio location of the bet -- far from the location of both college teams -- was also part of the suspicion.
There were two large bets placed -- one a parlay which involved the Alabama game, and the other a straight moneyline bet on LSU for that same game.
US Integrity alerted the state of Ohio, which halted betting activity on the game. Shortly thereafter, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Indiana, which also contract with US Integrity, also halted betting on that game.
Since then, investigators have identified that Bohannon was connected to those bets, and claim they have proof Bohannon was in contact with the bettor shortly before those wagers were placed. Bohannon was fired, and it is likely that criminal charges will follow.
As far as I can tell, all regular wagers on that game were paid out normally, despite the fix being in.
It is not clear if Luke Holman's back was really having issues, and if those issues really would have prevented him from pitching. None of the players will comment on the matter.
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