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Oklahoma QB John Mateer Issues Statement Regarding Gambling Accusations

The Sooners' quarterback has spent much of the last 24 hours at the center of a dubious Twitter report that he placed bets on college sports.
John Hoover|
Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer
Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer | John E. Hoover / Sooners On SI

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Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer is on the defensive Tuesday after accusations surfaced Monday night implicating Mateer in an alleged online sports gambling controversy. 

Screenshots of Mateer’s Venmo account were posted by the X/Twitter account belonging to someone claiming to be a reporter at Deadspin and a North Dakota media outlet called Valley News Live.

Sources told Sooners On SI that Mateer told OU he never bet on sports.

Officials at OU said Tuesday morning they were aware of the report and the accusations, and later said that formal statements would be forthcoming.

Tuesday afternoon, Mateer issued a statement.

"The allegations that I once participated in sports gambling are false," Mateer wrote in his statement. "My previous Venmo descriptions did not accurately portray the transactions in question but were instead inside jokes between me and my friends.

"I have never bet on sports. I understand the seriousness of the matter, but recognize that, taken out of context, those Venmo descriptions suggest otherwise. I can assure my teammates, coaches, and officials at the NCAA that I have not engaged in any sports gambling."

OU Athletics then released a statement.

"OU Athletics provides ongoing education to its student-athletes, coaches, and staff on matters related to sports gambling," read the 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 post on X about Mateer's alleged Venmo history Monday night came from the purported account Bryan Aguada, who claims to be an insider at Deadspin and Valley News Live.

However, KREF radio co-host and producer Blake Gamble reported that an employee at Valley News Live — a news outlet in Fargo, ND — is unfamiliar with anyone named Bryan Aguada having worked there. The account dates back to 2023 and includes mostly retweets and posts of news reports broken by other accounts. Any actual past reporting or background or even an online presence attributed to a Bryan Aguada apparently doesn't exist beyond the Twitter account, which itself has now been called into question.

According to NCAA rules, student-athletes who are found to have wagered on contests in their own sport face a 50 percent loss of one season of eligibility. The NCAA also requires education on sports gambling rules and prevention for student-athletes who commit wagering violations.

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Mateer came to Oklahoma after his lone season as WSU’s starting quarterback in 2024. The dual-threat quarterback logged 3,139 yards, 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions last year while also rushing for 826 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2024. His 44 total touchdowns led all of major college football, and he ranked fifth nationally in total offense.

Rejoining Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, who was hired by head oach Brent Venables in December, Mateer has been penciled in as the Sooners' starter since his arrival last winter.

The Oklahoma offense needed a shot in the arm after sophomore Jackson Arnold and true freshman Michael Hawkins struggled throughout 2024, directing an offense that was statistically among the worst in FBS.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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