Iowa, ISU gambling: The fix isn't in, but the clicks are

More than 100 current, former athletes under investigation after betting scandal

Iowa and Iowa State athletes grabbed headlines this past week for the wrong reasons.

The Hawkeye athletic department released a statement that 111 individuals were being investigated for sports wagering, including 26 current student-athletes.

Iowa State also issued a statement that 15 members of the football, track and wrestling teams were being investigated.

While online betting has presented a method of gambling that is relatively recently and very accessible, the realm of wagering by athletes, coaches and officials is nothing new.

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Let’s be clear. The investigation continues and no names have been announced as athletes who have suffered the consequences of the NCAA’s ban on sports gambling.

But in the context of the words of “Casablanca’s” Captain Renault, no one is “shocked, shocked, to find that gambling is going on in here.”

Gambling by athletes and the influence of it has been around for more than a century. And Iowans certainly have had a role in various scandals.