Venmo teams up with NCAA after Oklahoma QB John Mateer’s ‘sports gambling’ fiasco

The NCAA is teaming up with Venmo to help protect student athletes as concerns continue to mount around sports gambling.

Before the new partnership was announced, Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer was the subject of a controversial situation around unproven sports-betting accusations stemming from previous Venmo payments.

It appears that the Washington State transfer is on track to start for head coach Brent Venables and the Sooners in the season opener against Illinois State on Saturday despite a couple of previous Venmo payments going viral earlier this month.

Screenshots of his publicly-avialable payment history appeared to show two transactions labeled as "sports gambling," with one also including the words "UCLA vs USC" in the description. Both payments were made to a named individual on Nov. 20, 2022, one day after USC squeaked out a 48-45 win over rival UCLA.

Mateer was in the midst of his true freshman season with the Cougars at that time, making him subject to NCAA rules against sports betting. In the end, though, Oklahoma and Mateer seemingly quited the concerns after looking into the potential violations.

In a statement released on Aug. 12, Mateer called the payments "inside jokes" between he and his friends. There appeared to be no evidence that those transactions included in his Venmo history actually related to sports betting, and the new Oklahoma passer is believed to be in the clear.

The NCAA and Venmo announced a new partnership on Tuesday that aims to protect student athletes from "unwanted interactions."

"Venmo is collaborating with the NCAA to help protect student-athletes from these unwanted interactions," the release reads. "Every member of the Venmo community deserves a safe and respectful experience when they use the app, so we’re strengthening the protections we have in place to make it easier for these users to maintain a positive experience."

According to the NCAA and Venmo, the partnership has been in the works for some time, and is not the result of Mateer's situation this offseason.

The release cites an NCAA study which claims that 12% of abusive content aimed at college athletes is linked to sports betting, with nearly one in five (19%) harassment cases in men’s football involving betting-related abuse.

The NCAA and student athletes will have a hotline to "report potential cases of abuse for investigation and identify typologies of athlete harassment." Newsletters, emails and e-learning modules will be shared from Venmo to players. And the payment platform will monitor student-athletes' accounts.

Additionally, Venmo plans to "educate" users on the potential outcomes of harassment of student athletes, with violations potentially leading to account closures.

Sports betting is more available now than ever, as 38 states currently allow action in some form, including 30 states with online sports betting, according to Legal Sports Report.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.