Two games under the microscope
Two sports betting integrity companies are investigating a pair of Eastern Michigan Eagles men’s college basketball games for suspicious betting. In both games, the flagged wagers were against Eastern Michigan.
“their largest wager to date” on the Central Michigan Chippewas to cover the spread in the first half
According to ESPN’s David Purdum, Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360) alerted sportsbooks, regulators, and athletic conferences that someone had placed “their largest wager to date” on the Central Michigan Chippewas to cover the spread in the first half of its game against Mid-American Conference (MAC) rival Eastern Michigan on January 14, 2025. IC360 added that it had spotted two other unusually high wagers from other accounts, both from outside of Michigan.
The alert also said Eastern Michigan’s December 21, 2024, game against Wright State was under review.
The university told ESPN that it does not know what led to the oversized bets and is working with the MAC to get to the bottom of it.
First-half focus
The unusual wagers were on first-half spreads in both games, an easy way to raise eyebrows, especially in a mid-major conference game that would not normally attract extremely large bets.
In the game last week, Central Michigan was a first-half 3.5-point favorite when betting opened, but moved all the way to -6.5 shortly before tipoff. The Chippewas did not cover the closing spread, leading 39-33 at the half thanks to a three-pointer with one second remaining. Central Michigan went on to blow out Eastern Michigan, 82-63.
Wright State was a 2.5-point, first-half favorite in the December game and led by 11 at half, but Eastern Michigan came roaring back to win 86-82.
moved the lines very close to the line for the full game
One of the effects of the big bets on first-half lines is that they moved the lines very close to the line for the full game. As ESPN explained, first-half lines are usually about 50% of the full-game point spread. The EMU-CMU full-game line was CMU -8, compared to where the first half closed at CMU -6.5.
The EMU-Wright State game was more in line with norms.
Temple University investigation
The Eastern Michigan probe comes on the heels of an investigation into former Temple University and Virginia Tech basketball player Hysier Miller. The saga dates back to March 2024 when gambling monitoring firm US Integrity flagged a March 7 game between Temple and the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) because of significant fluctuations in the betting line.
At the start of the day, UAB was a 1.5-point favorite, but by game time, the line had grown to seven points. UAB romped, 100-72.
In reporting the story, Sports Illustrated cited a source that said US Integrity had its eyes on Temple games “for a while.”
In the offseason, Miller transferred from Temple to Virginia Tech, but Virginia Tech dismissed him from the team in October 2024, just before the season started. The school did not provide any reason for the dismissal.
In November 2024, ESPN reported that federal investigators were looking at Hysier Miller for potential point shaving.