The Mountain West on Thursday said it would partner with a new technology provider to uphold the integrity of the collegiate athletic conference’s events.
ProhiBet’s cross-monitoring and notification platform will help student-athletes, coaches, game officials, college administrators and MW staffers comply with the sports betting regulations that vary by state, including CO sports betting.
“The Mountain West has always been dedicated to promoting fairness, transparency, and compliance in all aspects of competition,” MW Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said. “Our collaboration with ProhiBet underscores our commitment to protecting our programs and upholding the integrity of sport.”
There are 13 schools, including Colorado State, Colorado College and the U.S. Air Force Academy, that participate in at least some of the 16 NCAA Division I sports offered by the MW. Those schools are located in eight states, including legal sports betting states Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming.
Colorado features a wide variety of operators, including national brand names like BetMGM Colorado.
ProhiBet is a joint venture between U.S. Integrity and Odds On Compliance. Matt Heap, ProhiBet’s managing director, previously led the Colorado Division of Gaming’s sports betting staff.
“The combination of ProhiBet’s state-of-the-art encrypted data transfer system and the Conference’s dedication to integrity will undoubtedly enhance the transparency and trustworthiness of sports betting activities,” Heap said.
Big 12 Also On Board
Thursday’s announcement was the second collegiate deal in as many days for ProhiBet. On Wednesday, U.S. Integrity announced a partnership with the Big 12 Conference.
Besides ProhiBet, the partnership will also give schools and officials within the Power 5 conference access to U.S. Integrity’s monitoring software. U.S. Integrity will also conduct onsite compliance training for all key stakeholders and provide weekly integrity monitoring.
The University of Colorado, which is driving renewed interest to CO sports betting apps after the hiring of Deion Sanders as football coach, is set to rejoin the Big 12 starting next year.
The steps taken by the MW and Big 12 come as several student-athletes at the University of Iowa and Big 12 member Iowa State are under investigation or face charges for placing bets on games. In some cases, the students are alleged to have wagered on games where they participated.
“Given the current landscape of sports betting in our industry, it’s more important than ever to double-down on ensuring sport integrity across our Conference,” Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said.
U.S. Integrity said its work with the Big 12 will also help the conference gain greater control over its data and the dissemination of that information.
