Getty Image / Brian Bahr
Over the past year, athletes gambling on sports has become a pretty big story in the sports world.
UFC fighters are no longer allowed to bet on fights after years of fighters placing wagers on themselves.
A number of NFL players have been suspended for different levels of violations of the league’s gambling policy.
There was that controversy with an Alabama-LSU baseball game.
Today, it was revealed that there may be a shocking addition to the list of gambling infractions in sports from the college football world.
According to the Des Moines Register’s Travis Hines and Randy Peterson, starting Iowa State quarterback Hunter Dekkers is being accused of betting on Iowa State sports, including one played by his own team.
Iowa State quarterback Hunter Dekkers is accused of placing wagers on Iowa State sports, including a 2021 football game https://t.co/RystcSk5oE
— Travis Hines (@TravisHines21) August 1, 2023
Dekkers is now facing a criminal complaint from the Story County Attorney’s Office.
Dekker is accused of using a DraftKings Sportsbook account to place approximately 366 wagers that totaled over $2799. 26 of those bets were placed on Iowa State sporting events.
So far, the accusations don’t include bets on any games that Dekkers actually competed in, but they do include one game that he was on the roster for.
According to the accusations, Dekkers bet on a 2021 football matchup between ISU and Oklahoma State. At the time, Dekkers was still acting as the backup QB to Brock Purdy. The Cyclones won that game 24-21.
The following year, Dekkers became the starting QB for Iowa State. As a junior, Dekkers threw for 3044 yards and 19 touchdowns on a Cyclones team that struggled to 4 wins.
He was expected to be the team’s starter again in 2023, but that may not be the case any more.
The complaint also alleges that Dekkers engaged in a scheme with his parents to disguise his identity and make it look like the bets were placed by his mother.
According to the complaint from Story County, Dekkers engaged in the scheme with Scott and Jami Dekkers enabling Hunter to disguise his identity and manipulate online/mobile transactions in order to create the appearance that sports wager transactions conducted by Hunter were… https://t.co/Khusk3pmvK
— Jeff Dubrof KCCI (@JeffDubrofKCCI) August 1, 2023
If the accusations prove true, Hunter Dekkers would be facing a permanent loss of NCAA eligibility.
Now the Iowa State Cyclones could find themselves scrambling to figure out who their starting quarterback will be just weeks before the start of the season.