College basketball in North America has been hit with seismic allegations of a major gambling scandal.
The NCAA is a sporting institution in the United States, with punters in the UK able to bet on the outcome of college games and huge tournaments like March Madness.
But these young athletes can be prone to being misled, and it would appear that a gambling syndicate has managed to cajole NCAA basketball players to fix as many as 29 games.
Bribes as high as $30,000 (£22,000) were paid to convince players to fix matches played between September 2022 and February 2025.
At the time of writing, 26 people have been arrested and charged, with 17 teams and 39 players have been named in legal papers.
People of Influence
The basis of the scheme was that the players that had been convinced to participate deliberately under performed.
The gambling fraternity in on the fix would then bet against the teams of those involved, typically using the point spread market for the first half and/or full-time result.
When these wagers landed, the syndicate would win big – but not big enough to arouse suspicion for more than two years.
According to papers filed by investigators, some notable colleges – including Alabama State, Florida Atlantic, Georgetown, St. Louis University and Western Michigan University – have been embroiled in the scandal, although in some cases they are named in the writ as the opponents of the accused.
And NCAA chiefs have seemingly been aware of the scam since last year, with more than a dozen players sanctioned.
Division 1 of the NCAA is the top level of North American college sports, with the best players often going on to be drafted for the NBA or NFL. According to prosecutors, 15 of the defendants in this case played in Division 1 last season.
Leading the investigation is the US Attorney, David Metcalf. He said:
“In basketball, one player could substantially influence a game in ways that in other sports you cannot, but it’s not a guarantee. But, by and large, the scheme was very successful.”
The alleged ringleaders of the ruse are professional punters Marves Fairley and Shane Hennen, who in 2025 were named in the ongoing gambling fraud case against a handful of current and former NBA players and coaches.
The duo has been accused of persuading former college and Chicago Bulls star Antonio Blakeney to help them rig two games in the Chinese Basketball Association games. When that scam was considered a ‘success’, it was repackaged for NCAA basketball instead – with Blakeney himself taking payments.
“They [Fairley and Hennen] picked these men because they were well connected in the world of college basketball,” confirmed Metcalf.
“They knew the players, many of them were players themselves, they were alumni, they were trainers, they were recruiters, they were networkers, they were people of influence, and because of that influence, they added gravitas and legitimacy to the scheme.”
Anatomy of a Scandal
This latest embarrassment to American sport follows hot on the heels of another illegal gambling scheme; this one involving the Mafia and a current NBA star.
The FBI has been brought into investigate claims that Terry Rozier, of the Miami Heat, was paid by crime family connections to deliberately underperform in games – allowing the syndicate to bank millions in profit.
The case centres around allegations that Rozier, playing for the Charlotte Hornets in March 2024, purposely got substituted so that the ‘unders’ side of his prop lines – such as points scored, assists provided and rebounds claimed – would land for his backers.
The New York police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, alleges that the 31-year-old ‘let others close to him know that he planned to leave the game early with a supposed injury.’
“Using that information, members of the group placed more than $200,000 (£150,000) in wagers on his under statistics,” Tisch continued.
“Rozier exited the game after just nine minutes, and those bets paid out, generating tens of thousands of dollars in profit.
“The proceeds were later delivered to his home.”
Rozier denies all of the accusations, and is one of more than 30 people being examined by federal investigators over alleged wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, sports rigging and illegal gambling.
It is rumoured that amongst the arrested are members of the feared Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families, as well as Marves Fairley and Shane Hennen.
The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, described the level of fraud that allegedly took place as ‘mind boggling’.
“We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery,” he confirmed.