AP
8/28/23
A digital platform where college athletes can alert their administrations anonymously to improper or illegal conduct by coaches, teammates or others is expanding to allow them to report suspected gambling activity.
RealResponse’s partnership with U.S. Integrity, which monitors sports wagering trends in real time to detect irregularities, will come at no additional cost to some 150 athletic departments that are clients.
The service builds on a tip hotline U.S. Integrity and RealResponse unveiled in May and will give college athletic administrators a direct line to investigators.
A state investigation into illegal sports wagering at Iowa and Iowa State has led to criminal charges being filed against about a dozen athletes.
Iowa State is a RealResponse client. UI spokesman Matthew Weitzel told the Associated Press that his school is not a client, but it does have a relationship with U.S. Integrity through the Big Ten Conference.
RealResponse founder David Chadwick says a college athlete will be able to go to his or her existing RealResponse web page and report suspected misuse of insider information, potential game manipulation and physical threats related to gambling, among other things.
When a report comes in, administrators can request U.S. Integrity investigators to assess, verify and route the report to appropriate authorities.
As part of the RealResponse partnership with U.S. Integrity, the public also can report gambling-related issues through school athletic websites.