NCAA ‘Aware’ and ‘Actively Gathering Additional Information’ in Ohio’s UA Baseball Betting Stoppage
After ESPN reporting on Monday revealed an Ohio betting stoppage in Alabama baseball games due to "suspicious" gambling activity, the NCAA has released a statement saying it is "actively gathering additional information” on the issue.
Betting was suspended in Ohio due to an alert from independent integrity monitoring firm U. S. Integrity, stating the detection of irregular gambling activity in Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark involving Alabama's Friday loss to LSU, according to Tuesday reporting from ESPN's David Purdum.
The organization reaffirmed its commitment to transparency in college athletics in a Tuesday statement, saying, “The NCAA takes sports wagering very seriously and is committed to the protection of student-athlete well-being and the integrity of competition."
The issue has forced the hands of large sportsbooks to take precautionary measures - FanDuel, one of the country's largest licensed sports wagering services, has already removed Alabama baseball game betting in all states where the service was allowed to run.
Alabama lost all three games in their recent weekend series with No. 1 LSU in Baton Rouge, LA. The Tide plays again on Thursday at 7 p.m. as they meet the Vanderbilt Commodores for Bama's second-to-last home series of the season.