An internal gambling ring has led to the suspension of the Notre Dame men’s swimming team for at least one year.
The university hired an external law firm to review the situation, which “confirmed and expanded” initial concerns about the team culture, Director of Athletics Pete Bevacqua said in a release Thursday.
“This independent, external review also documented numerous violations of NCAA rules prohibiting gambling on intercollegiate swimming and other athletic competitions despite clear and recurrent training provided to all our student-athletes by our Athletics Compliance staff about those rules,” Bevacqua said.
“… While individual conduct varied, the overwhelming cultural dynamic on the team necessitates a full suspension.”
Report: swimmers bet on themselves
Notre Dame did not specifics of what law firm Ropes & Gray uncovered in its review, but Sports Illustrated and ESPN reported additional details.
A makeshift sportsbook allowed swimmers to bet on times posted either by themselves or other teammates, according to reports. More than 60% of the returning 25 swimmers took part in the betting.
No betting on opposing teams or other Notre Dame teams was discovered, according to the reports. Some bets were taken on bigger events, like the Super Bowl and March Madness.
The coaching staff fully cooperated with the review and was not aware of the gambling, Notre Dame said in its release.
Add Notre Dame scandal to the list
This scandal will be added to the list of incidents around college sports programs, though it is the first where the betting was all internal. It joins multiple other college betting scandals:
- University of Alabama baseball betting including the use of inside information.
- A messy situation involving student betting and illegal searches at the University of Iowa.
- NFL wide receiver Kayshon Boutte had pending charges over betting dropped last month. Boutte was reportedly involved in betting on his own Louisiana State University.
It has led to frustration within the NCAA. President Charlie Baker, who pushed for and helped pass legal sports betting in Massachusetts when he was governor, notably said he wishes “sports betting had just stayed in Las Vegas.”
The NCAA is now pushing states to ban prop betting on college games.
