Three college basketball players banned permanently by NCAA for gambling scheme

Three NCAA basketball players have been placed on the permanently ineligible list by the NCAA for a gambling scheme they conspired on during the 2024-25 season.

Former student/athletes Mykell Robinson, Steven Vasquez, and Jalen Weaver, who all played for Fresno State (Vazquez later transferred to San Jose State) are alleged to have manipulated their own performance in NCAA games last season.

According to an investigati9on by the enforcement arm of the NCAA, Robinson and Vazquez underperformed in certain statistical categories to influence the under bet for their own player props odds. The NCAA says the two communicated via text message to plan the scheme.

This is the third instance of NCAA basketball players being disciplined for gambling violations in the last two seasons.

The NCAA itself has partnerships with gaming companies. Many schools have official sponsorships with sportsbooks. The NCAA has tried to educate athletes on the dangers inherent with the increase in sports betting. More than 35 states and the District of Columbia now have legal sports betting in some form.

Some states, namely Ohio, have banned player prop bets on college athletics. This stems from concerns over the vulnerability of college athletes, most of whom do not have lucrative contracts and endorsement deals and may be swayed by the lure of a few thousand dollars from sports betting.

The NCAA has called for a blanket ban on all player prop bets in collegiate athletics, pointing out that athletes could also be targets of reprisals from frustrated gamblers who lose bets because of their performances.

According to reports, in excess of $15,000 was won by Robinson, Vazquez, and an unknown third person who also got into the gambling action on their player prop bets last season. When Weaver and Robinson were teammates, Robinson allegedly placed bets on the under for Weaver's performance in certain games.

None of the three former players are enrolled at any of their old schools any longer. The ban bars them from competing at all in any athletic event sanctioned by the NCAA.

The NBA also has rules governing the signing of players who have been permanently banned from the NCAA for gambling. It remains to be seen if any of the three could petition for eligibility for the professional ranks.

The NCAA has released a report detailing its findings, which outlines the gambling scheme and the lengths the three college/athletes went to for manipulating their own statistical outcomes. The NCAA called the scheme a “sports-betting related game manipulation.”