Oklahoma on Tuesday afternoon released a statement shortly after quarterback John Mateer did about a viral post on X from Monday night that accused Mateer of gambling on sports in 2022 and included screenshots from Mateer’s Venmo account.
Mateer denied the allegations in his release, then OU went as far to state that the university doesn’t even anticipate an investigation from the NCAA even though betting on college sports is illegal for student-athletes. However, making jokes about it is not, even if it can start a sticky situation like this.
OU releases statement about Mateer's Venmo sports gambling allegations
Everything started when an account on X with the name Bryan Aguada, whose bio claims they are an insider for Deadspin and senior journalist for Valley News Live, posted the accusations and screenshots from Mateer's Venmo account. The Venmo transactions were titled "Sports Gambling (UCLA vs. USC)" and "Sports gambling." Mateer said in his statement that those labels were "inside jokes." The name behind the account and even the profile picture have also been proven fake since, but it appears the screenshots were from Mateer's real Venmo feed.
Reliable reports finally surfaced Tuesday morning that OU was aware of the situation and Mateer denied all accusations, which Mateer reassured with his own statement. OU then released its statement shortly after Mateer.
“OU Athletics provides ongoing education to its student-athletes, coaches, and staff on matters related to sports gambling,” OU said in its statement. “The department utilizes ProhiBet, which is an industry-standard service offering comprehensive monitoring of sports gambling activities. OU takes any allegations of gambling seriously and works closely with the NCAA in any situations of concern.
“OU Athletics is unaware of any NCAA investigation and has no reason to believe there is one pending.”
The best news for Sooner Nation is that OU doesn’t expect an investigation into these allegations, meaning it should soon all be water under the bridge after a hectic 24 hours.
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