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When legal sports betting began sweeping the country circa 2018, critics came out of the woodwork that it would lead to illegal gambling. Not from everyday folks, but from the athletes and coaches involved in games.
In particular, many thought college athletes would be at the most risk. This was before Name, Image, and Likeness began paying them millions of dollars. At the time, they were only paid scholarships, which made them susceptible to taking payments via gambling. Best-case scenario, they’d bet using inside information (e.g. a player won’t dress cause of an injury). At worst, they’d be fixing their own performance.
Seven years later, we’ve certainly seen some issues pop up. Surprisingly, the bigger culprits have been pro players, particularly in the NBA. College players have mostly escaped gambling drama.
Until now.
There’s a story involving Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer and it’s almost comical. Mateer is originally from the state of Texas and just transferred to the Sooners this past season. Sports betting in Texas is illegal, but Mateer’s issue didn’t stem from that.
No, it was even dumber. Mateer had Venmo transactions hinting at him gambling with friends. Yes, Venmo transactions are being used to link him to betting! Keep on reading and we’ll explain this wild story!
How Venmo Exposed Mateer
The Venmo mess started when screenshots of Mateer’s payments to a friend began circulating online. For some inexplicable reason, Venmo tries to “socialize” payments made between users. It’s public information like when you post on a Facebook page. Others can’t see the payment amount, but it is visible who’s paying whom and for what. The what part is what got Mateer in hot water.
Twice, he sent money with the caption “sports gambling.” When making Venmo payments, users are free to caption the transaction as they’d like. One of the captions went as far as to say sports gambling (UCLA vs. USC). Not coincidentally, this payment was made one day after the two teams really played in 2022. It was an all-timer of a game where the Trojans won a 48–45 shootout when Caleb Williams was still on the team.
If true, that’s a violation of NCAA rules. College athletes can’t bet on any sport — even for other teams. Mateer was with Washington State at the time. Obviously, USC and UCLA were conference rivals with the PAC-12 when the incident may have transpired.
Mateer Denies Ever Gambling
The Venmo screenshots caught fire on social media. It went viral almost instantly, which forced Mateer to respond or face punishment present day even if he’s now with Oklahoma, not Washington State. He released a statement saying the following:
“The allegations that I once participated in sports gambling are false. My previous Venmo descriptions did not accurately portray the transactions in question but were instead inside jokes between me and my friends. I have never bet on sports. I understand the seriousness of the matter, but recognize that, taken out of context, those Venmo descriptions suggest otherwise. I can assure my teammates, coaches and officials at the NCAA that I have not engaged in any sports gambling.”
We’ll be honest, Mateer’s story is hard to believe. While yes, Venmo captions usually are jokes. It’s not uncommon to, say, split a restaurant bill with a buddy and label the transaction “drugs.” People do that.
But Mateer’s captions are a little too on the nose to be inside jokes. Again, the timing of labeling it USC vs UCLA when the game happened 24 hours before is just too much. But at the same time, we understand why Mateer chose to say that.
This isn’t your run-of-the-mill player. Mateer was one of the top transfers in the country this offseason after throwing for over 3,100 yards and rushing for 826 more at Washington State. He scored 44 total touchdowns a year ago for a bad team. Now he’s a Sooner with sky-high expectations as the new QB1.
The Sooners believe he’s a breakout SEC star in the making, and he just might be. Coming out of high school in Texas, only Washington State recruited him. However, quarterback whisperer Eric Morris fell in love with Mateer’s potential and brought him to the PAC-12. Norris, who now coaches for North Texas, is also credited with discovering No. 1 NFL Draft pick Cam Ward. If Mateer is half as good as Ward, then the Sooners got a steal.
More Player-Involved Gambling Scandals Will Happen
So what’s the takeaway here? Don’t label your illegal gambling so specifically on Venmo? Yes, that’s one takeaway. But the other is how prone players are to mishaps. Even if they’re not betting on their own games, the temptation to do so for other games is high. Especially from the bombardment of betting ads from top mobile apps like FanDuel.
Michael Porter Jr. — an NBA player making eight figures a year — recently said the issues that legalized betting brings would “get worse.” Those are pointed remarks because his younger brother was banned for life by the NBA for illegal betting.
Again, if it can happen to pros, then college athletes are even more prone. The next scandal is going to be harder to disprove, unlike Mateer’s. Just you watch.
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