Iowa State quarterback Hunter Dekkers and four other athletes pled guilty to a reduced charge of underage gambling on Wednesday. The five are among more than a dozen current and former Iowa college athletes charged in a state online sports betting investigation.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation brought charges against several Iowa college athletes on August 1. The charges included record tampering, an aggravated misdemeanor, which can result in up to two years in prison. More college athletes were subsequently charged after further investigation.
The five athletes who pled guilty this week, include Hunter Dekkers, offensive lineman Jake Remsburg, former Iowa State Dodge Sauser, former Iowa kicker Aaron Blom, and former Iowa baseball player Gehrig Christensen. By pleading to a reduced charge, the athletes will each receive a fine of $645.
Meanwhile, the NCAA has yet to rule on the eligibility of any of those involved in the Iowa investigation. The NCAA recently revised its policies on student-athlete-related sports betting. Given the change in the legal sports betting landscape, the NCAA relaxed some of its reinstatement guidelines. Many of the Iowa players, however, could still lose some, or all, of their eligibility. That is most likely the fate of athletes who placed bets on their own teams.
This is arguably not an issue isolated to Iowa athletics. It is an issue that has grown along with the expansion of legal sports betting. Just this week, the NCAA released findings of its survey of school compliance directors. It found that 27% of autonomy schools had dealt with a sports wagering issue among their athletes or staff within the past year.
Although the athletes who pled guilty this week avoided jail time, that may not be true of all those athletes swept up in Iowa’s sports betting investigation. For instance, Quad-City Times reported that suspended Denver Bronco and former Iowa State player Eyioma Uwazurike and Iowa State wrestler Paniro Johnson have recently been charged with felony identity theft in addition to records tampering.
