Bert Neff, who received a text from former Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohanan stating that Alabama had pulled its starting pitcher, walked into an MGM casino in Ohio on April 28, 2023, and attempted to place a $100,000 bet based on the information. This action set off a chain of events that would ultimately lead to a significant college baseball betting scandal.
MGM employees refused to accept the $100,000 bet but allowed Neff to place a $15,000 wager on LSU to win. The attempt to bet $100,000 and the subsequent $15,000 bet were deemed suspicious by MGM staff. The bets were swiftly flagged, and within days, markets on the LSU-Alabama baseball game were suspended. Within a week, Brad Bohanan was fired from his position.
Although Bohanan has not faced criminal charges, the NCAA has sanctioned him for 15 years. This sanction underscores the serious consequences of sharing insider information in the sports betting world. The scandal did not end with Bohanan; it also entangled Neff, who found himself in deeper legal trouble.
Neff, whose son played baseball at Cincinnati when the bet was placed, wasn’t charged with wagering using insider information. However, federal authorities charged him with obstruction of justice after he attempted to erase the Alabama baseball information from his phone. According to a federal affidavit, Neff shared this insider information with other bettors, four of whom placed bets on the game, which LSU won, 8-6.
In a sentencing memorandum, US assistant attorney Edward Canter referred to Neff as a “professional gambler.” Earlier this year, Neff pled guilty and faced a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison. “Faced with a federal grand jury investigation, [Neff] worked to game the system,” Canter wrote. “The defendant destroyed evidence, tampered with witnesses, and provided false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He did not do this once. He did it on dozens of occasions, and he did so for the greater part of a year.”
The sentencing took place at the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. The court’s decision highlighted the serious nature of Neff’s actions and served as a warning to others in the gambling community about the severe penalties for tampering with evidence and obstructing justice.
At the time of the bet, LSU was ranked No. 1 in the nation. The Tigers swept Alabama in a three-game SEC series and went on to win the College World Series. For the game in question, Alabama scratched its projected starter Luke Holman about an hour before the first pitch, a move that likely influenced Neff’s decision to bet heavily on LSU.
This scandal underscores the vulnerabilities in the college sports betting system and the potential for insider information to influence betting markets. It also highlights the stringent measures taken by casinos and regulatory bodies to maintain the integrity of sports betting. The fallout from this incident serves as a cautionary tale for those involved in gambling on college sports, emphasizing the importance of adherence to legal and ethical standards.
