Unusually large bets
One can argue whether the spread of legal sports betting in the United States is good, bad, or somewhere in between, but one thing it has certainly done is make detecting shenanigans much easier. ESPN has reported that because of suspiciously large bets, two Eastern Michigan men’s basketball games are being investigated.
Last week, gambling integrity monitor Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360) issued an alert to state regulators, sportsbooks, and NCAA conferences regarding a January 14, 2025 meeting between Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan.
The alert explained that it had spotted a bettor’s “largest wager to date” on Central Michigan to cover the first-half spread. Additionally, IC360 noted that “the operator also found two other high-stakes wagers from two accounts in a different jurisdiction” on the CMU first-half line. Central Michigan did not cover the 6.5-point spread, leading at half by six.
IC360 also issued an alert earlier in the season about Eastern Michigan’s game against Wright State.
Bettors didn’t like Eastern Michigan’s side
While sports bettors will wager on all sorts of things, first-half point spreads in a mid-major regular season basketball game (in this case, the Mid-American Conference) do not generally draw massive amounts of handle.
Thus, when someone drops a huge wad on the first-half line of the Central Michigan Chippewas against the Eastern Michigan Eagles, red flags are raised. The bets also shifted the line hard. It opened at Central Michigan -3.5 and by game time, it was at -6.5. Turned out that was good for the sportsbooks, since Central Michigan just missed covering the first half.
IC360 also believes that there could be a connection between the unusual bets on the game.
The other game in question was from December 21, 2024, between Eastern Michigan and Wright State. Wright State was a 2.5-point favorite in the first half, and like in the Central Michigan game, the suspiciously heavy money was on Eastern Michigan’s opponent. Wright State covered the spread, leading by 11 at the half, but Eastern Michigan ended up winning the game by four.
ESPN noted that first-half spreads are usually around half of the full-game point spread. In last week’s game, Central Michigan was an 8-point favorite overall, barely more than the first-half line.
“Couldn’t be a bigger red flag than closing higher on a half than a [full] game,” Las Vegas bookmaker told ESPN.
Temple player target of probe
In an unrelated probe, federal investigators are looking into a Temple University men’s basketball game against the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) from March 7, 2024. Specifically, they are focused on former Temple Owl Hysier Miller for possible point shaving.
UAB was a narrow 1.5-point favorite at the beginning of the day, but unusually high volume came in on the Blazers’ side, causing the line to grow to UAB -7. In the interim, the line rose even higher. UAB crushed Temple, 100-72.
Little else is known about the situation, but Miller transferred to Virginia Tech after last season. Then, before the start of this season, he was dismissed from the team for reasons that neither the school nor athletic department made public. Speculation is that they found out about the investigation and parted ways.
