College players among those charged in point-shaving scheme
More than a dozen current and former college basketball players have been charged in connection with a point-shaving scheme involving 17 NCAA Division I teams. A federal indictment unsealed Thursday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania alleged that the scheme involved 39 college basketball players, 15 of whom were charged.
ESPN is reporting that those charged played in the 2023-24 and/or the 2024-25 seasons, and CBS Sports said a few have played this season.
Among the top-tier basketball programs affected by the alleged gambling scheme were Butler, DePaul, Georgetown, St. John’s and Tulane.
The point-shaving scheme
The indictment says the scheme began in September 2022 and primarily involved fixing games in the Chinese Basketball Association. However, over time, the people behind the scheme began targeting college basketball players, allegedly offering them $10,000 to $30,000 to compromise games for betting purposes.
“In placing these wagers on games they had fixed, the defendants defrauded sportsbooks, as well as individual sports bettors, who were all unaware that the defendants had corruptly manipulated the outcome of these games that should have been decided fairly, based on genuine competition and the best efforts of the players,” the indictment said.
The NCAA sanctioned two of the players listed in the indictment in November for fixing New Orleans ’ games. Four other players played in games as recently as this past week.
Current players named in the indictment are Simeon Cottle of Kennesaw State, who was named Conference USA’s preseason Player of the Year; Camian Shell of Delaware State; Carlos Hart of Eastern Michigan; and Oumar Koureissi of Texas Southern.
According to ESPN, two of those named in the indictment were also charged in a federal case centered on gambling schemes in the NBA. Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were among those charged in that indictment.
After the indictment was unsealed on Thursday, NCAA president Charlie Baker issued a statement. He said the pattern of conduct revealed is “not entirely new information.”
“Through helpful collaboration and with industry regulators, we have finished or have open investigations into almost all of the teams in today’s indictment,” Baker’s statement reads.
Sports betting in the US
The new indictment comes as sports betting in the U.S. sees an all-time high. As of October 2025, sports betting is legal in 39 states either online or in retail locations. In 2024, the industry posted a record $13.7 billion in revenue, as Straight Arrow News previously reported.
Officials in the NBA and NCAA have taken precautions and launched investigations into cheating. However, risks have not stopped leagues from cashing in on the industry. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver previously told ESPN that the choice isn’t whether people want sports betting, but whether it’s legal or illegal.
“With this regulated structure of legalized betting, we can monitor it in ways that were unimaginable years ago,” Silver said.
The NBA isn’t alone, either. Major League Baseball and the National Football League both have partnerships with online betting platforms.
In an interview with Straight Arrow News in October, Jonathan Cohen, author of “Losing Big: America’s Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling,” warned that cheating scandals are going to continue.
“We’re going to keep having scandals like this,” Cohen said. “It’s just a matter of how much is too much. How much the public is willing to take before we really have a blowback on the whole sports betting infrastructure.”
History of point-shaving in basketball
These college players are not the first, and as Cohen stated, won’t be the last involved in a betting scandal.
In 1951, point-shaving and match-fixing allegations flew around major colleges and universities surrounding New York City. The scandal involved dozens of players across seven teams.
Another major college basketball scandal came around 10 years later, during the NCAA University Division men’s basketball season. It involved a former NBA All-Star and members of organized crime. There were 37 arrests, and 22 students from different colleges were involved.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
