US federal prosecutors have indicted 20 people, including 15 former college basketball players, for participating in a "betting scheme to fix games" in the NCAA Championship and the Chinese Basketball League.
Of the defendants, 15 played in the NCAA college league during the past season, while the remaining five defendants participated as intermediaries in the fixing.
The five defendants include a coach, a former coach, a former NCAA player, a gambler and an influencer.
The charges, filed in federal court in Philadelphia, include wire fraud.
In a 70-page indictment, authorities allege that middlemen recruited college basketball players with "bribe payments," which typically ranged from $10.000 to $30.000 per game.
The indictment follows a series of investigations in the NCAA league, after which at least 10 players received lifetime suspensions for betting.
The NCAA also stated that at least 30 players were under investigation for gambling allegations.
More than 30 people were also charged in last year's major federal crackdown on illegal gambling operations linked to professional basketball.
Concerns about betting in college sports have grown since 2018, when the United States Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on the practice, leading some states to legalize betting to varying degrees.
The NCAA prohibits athletes and coaching staff from betting on college games, but last year briefly allowed student-athletes to bet on professional sports, only to reverse that decision in November.
The world of sports has been facing an increasing number of betting scandals lately, and betting revenues in the US exceeded $11 billion in the first three quarters of last year.
According to the American Gaming Association, that's more than 13 percent more than last year.
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