Sportsbooks flagged dozens of suspicious bets made by gamblers repeatedly wagering against the same small-conference teams in at least 11 men's college basketball games over six weeks last season, documents obtained by ESPN show.
As the NCAA and federal authorities investigate alleged point-shaving in college basketball, the documents reveal new details about the behavior of an alleged gambling syndicate and the games that suspected members targeted between Dec. 1, 2024, and mid-January 2025. ESPN obtained the documents in a public records request.
At least nine sportsbooks in 13 states and one Canadian province detected similar unusual betting activity, according to an email sent by IC360, a firm that monitors the betting market for abnormalities. The gamblers kept betting big against the same teams and winning.
In some cases, customers opened new sportsbook accounts or reemerged after weeks of inactivity to place larger-than-normal or multiple consecutive wagers on the first-half spreads of games, the records show.
Sportsbooks reported seeing similar betting activity on first-half spreads in the 2023-24 college basketball season and believed these bets were connected to the same gambling syndicate, according to the records and a source with direct knowledge.
One sportsbook wrote in the documents that several bettors had potential links to the syndicate and referenced Marves Fairley, a Mississippi man who sells betting picks online, as "the main syndicate suspect." When reached by ESPN, Fairley denied any involvement.
Multiple sources familiar with the federal investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania told ESPN that the FBI has been interviewing college athletes and believe indictments are forthcoming. The sources said they have seen evidence of plots to fix college basketball games.
A spokesperson for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania declined comment.
It is not clear if the syndicate is behind all the suspicious bets flagged in the documents, but the games mentioned involve five of the six schools where the NCAA says 13 former players are under investigation for participating in gambling schemes: Eastern Michigan, Temple, New Orleans, North Carolina A&T and Mississippi Valley State.
