Reports: Temple’s connection to a probe into unusual gambling activity may be part of wider ring
Sports Illustrated reported that federal authorities and the NCAA are probing potential links between an NBA gambling ring and unusual betting on college games, including some involving the Owls.
The unusual wagering activity that prompted a gambling watchdog group to flag a Temple men’s basketball game last March could be linked to a more widespread ring that touches both college basketball and the NBA, according to reports.
Sports Illustrated reported Tuesday that federal authorities and the NCAA are investigating potential links between the gambling ring that included former NBA forward Jontay Porter and unusual betting on at least nine college games across this season and last, including Temple’s March 7, 2024 game against Alabama-Birmingham.
Formerly with the Toronto Raptors, Porter pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the case involving NBA games and is awaiting sentencing.
Sports Illustrated’s story followed an ESPN report earlier this month that said sportsbook accounts linked to the NBA gambling ring wagered on that March 2024 Temple game, which was the last of six Owls games that featured what casinos considered suspicious gambling activity.
The alleged mastermind behind what could be one of the most extensive point-shaving scandals in American history, Shane Hennen, was arrested in January at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas attempting to board a flight to Panama, where he would catch a connecting flight to Colombia.
According to court documents, agents found multiple cell phones and nearly $10,000 in cash on Hennen, who told law enforcement that he was traveling to South America for dental treatment.
Law enforcement officials and the NCAA are still probing the impact of Hennen’s alleged ring, but a January court filing by U.S. Attorney Carolyn Pokorny of the Eastern District of New York says the government “has developed substantial evidence that the defendant has conducted or caused to be conducted illicit financial transactions and fraudulent sports wagers totaling millions of dollars, including through a network of proxies and straw bettors located across the country.”
According to Sports Illustrated, Hennen and his attorney are negotiating a plea deal, which could end up revealing the breadth of the operation.
Temple’s potential link to the ring centers on the 2024 games that were flagged by the watchdog group. The March 7 game against UAB featured highly unusual line movement. UAB was favored by 2½ points at one sportsbook early that day before the line jumped to eight points, and there were also unusual movements and bets on first-half-specific wagers for that game and a handful of previous games.
The only Temple player linked to the investigation is Philadelphia native Hysier Miller, who transferred to Virginia Tech after the season and was subsequently released from the program in October “due to circumstances prior to his enrollment at Virginia Tech.”
Miller, Temple’s leading scorer last season, recently played professional basketball in Germany for Mitteldeutscher Basketball Club but is no longer with the team.
“As the university has shared in the past, it has been aware of these allegations since they were first reported in the media in March 2024,” Temple said in a statement. “While these are serious allegations, we know they are not representative of our athletics program. We have been fully responsive and cooperative with the NCAA since the moment we learned of the investigation. While the university has not received any requests for information from state or federal law enforcement agencies regarding these allegations, we will cooperate fully should we be contacted.”
Several college programs are under investigation, and the activity could be linked to the same gambling ring, according to multiple reports. Eastern Michigan games this season were flagged by the same watchdog group, Integrity Compliance 360, that last year flagged Temple games. According to ESPN and Sports Illustrated, North Carolina A&T and Mississippi Valley State are also under scrutiny.
Fresno State suspended two players this week amid a gambling probe, according to ESPN. And the basketball program at New Orleans has held out four of its top five scorers since Jan. 27 as part of a probe into sports gambling, according to The Field of 68.
No public court filings have connected all of the dots, and it’s unclear at this point whether the suspensions are related.
Hennen, who sells his picks on a website called SugarShaneWins.com and publicly flaunted his five- and six-figure bets on social media, grew up in western Pennsylvania and has a criminal history dating back to 2007.
His past run-ins with the law, according to Sports Illustrated, include disorderly conduct, misdemeanor gambling charges, aggravated assault, and drug charges that landed him in prison. According to Sports Illustrated, Hennen also “regularly placed large wagers” at Philadelphia’s Rivers Casino.
A few of Hennen’s alleged coconspirators have been identified in the Porter case, including Mahmud Mollah of Lansdale, who pleaded guilty in October to wire fraud conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing.