‘A Pretty Open Secret’: Oddsmakers, Bettors Sound Off on College Basketball and CBA Point-Shaving

Patrick Everson Sports Betting Expert

2 minute read

A federal indictment unsealed Thursday charged 20 individuals in a point-shaving scheme. Those charged were allegedly fixing college basketball games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, as well as Chinese Basketball Association games beginning in 2022.

Among those charged were 15 players and five alleged fixers.

The indictment set off a cavalcade of reaction, including from oddsmakers and bettors. One common thread: The indictment was no surprise and perhaps should've come much sooner.

(Feature image: VegasInsider)

Point-Shaving Scheme

'Pretty Open Secret'

Of the 20 facing charges, 15 were players who competed in the 2023-24 and/or 2024-25 seasons. The other five are allegedly fixers, two of whom – Shane Hennen and Marvis Fairley – were charged in the October federal indictment surrounding the NBA betting probe.

Jack Andrews, the pseudonymous co-founder of Unabated Sports, is also a sharp bettor/advantage gambler. He's very much in tune with industry goings-on, including this case, as it finally reached the indictment stage.

"My reaction is: I'm not sure what took so long," Andrews said. "A lot of bettors noticed this when it was happening two years ago. It was a pretty open secret that certain teams were shaving first-half points."

Indeed, the indictment cited unusual first-half wagering multiple times. The two largest of those:

• $458,000 on Towson to cover a first-half spread vs. North Carolina A&T, in a Feb. 29, 2024 game.
• $424,000 on Kent State to cover a first-half spread vs. Buffalo, in a Feb. 27, 2024 game.

Wagers Spread Out

Other six-figure amounts were also cited, and all the bets were on mid-major or smaller Division I teams/games. However, these eye-popping amounts didn't stem from single bets, but rather an accumulation of bets.

For example, the indictment notes that on Kent State -8.5 first half vs. Buffalo, the fixers "and others acting at their direction, placed wagers with various sportsbooks totaling at least approximately $424,000 on Kent State to cover the first-half spread."

Tom Gable, sportsbook director for Borgata Sports in Atlantic City, said that's likely the only way to wager that much money on such a nondescript college basketball game.

"Due to the amount cited on each game, it would make sense for those figures to be a sum of all the money the group wagered on a particular game," Gable said. "And more than likely, it was placed at numerous outs."

Like Andrews, Gable said he anticipated Thursday's indictment.

"There have been rumblings for a while now in regard to college basketball," Gable said. "Some of the teams named that had games involved were at least mentioned in the media prior. So I wasn't surprised that this came out."

Regulated Market at Work

As with the aforementioned NBA betting probe, both Andrews and Gable believe the legal, regulated sports betting market in the U.S. helped lead to this latest federal indictment. Andrews said that's something to herald in this case and others like it.

"The biggest positive is that it continues to show that, without the wide proliferation of betting markets, we wouldn't have found out about this," Andrews said. "If you think point-shaving only came about because of regulated markets, then you're naive.

"It's only being found out because of regulated markets."

On the other side of the counter, Gable concurred.

"Definitely. Without the regulated market reporting suspicious wagers, these types of things typically wouldn't come to light," Gable said.

Patrick Everson

Patrick Everson is a senior reporter for VegasInsider. Based in Las Vegas since 1994, he's worked in the sports betting journalism/content space for more than a decade. He's most known for his deep roster of contacts behind sportsbook counters, providing readers and viewers with the ins-and-outs of how events are being bet. He's also a thought leader in the sports betting space, often appearing on or moderating panels at national conferences. More from Patrick Everson