Fox's College Basketball Crown Met With Gambling Controversy

The Inaugural College Basketball Crown kicked off on Monday, and unfortunately was not without controversy. 

FULL DISCLOSURE: In an effort to be transparent, I had bet on this event, and thus am not an entirely unbiased party. I was paid out properly on my wagers.

Background

For those of you who do not know, the College Basketball Crown is another postseason tournament, brought to you by FOX, to rival the NIT as second to the NCAA Tournament. The Crown is entirely in Las Vegas, with 16 teams, largely from high-major leagues that have deals with Fox (Big 12, Big East, Big Ten). The tournament started on March 31 and goes to April 7, with the two semifinal games on Saturday leading into the Final Four. There are promised NIL prizes to teams that make the semifinals, with more guaranteed the further you advance (50K for semifinalists, 100K for the runner-up, 300K to the winning team).

Here is the Initial Press Release via Fox Sports

FOX has been promoting this event on their broadcasts for around two months. As we’ve gotten closer to the event, FOX has ramped up production, including social media posts advertising the Crown and using gambling to get viewers, giving them another event to bet on.

Even during their games, FOX posted lines for the event, and showed betting odds for upcoming games, to draw in gamblers and other viewers.

That’s where the controversy lies. This event is not an NCAA-Sanctioned event. It’s separate, as this entire tournament is run by FOX and is opposing an NCAA-Sanctioned NIT. To my knowledge, as a result of this event not being sanctioned by the NCAA, legal sportsbooks (Draftkings, Fanduel, Caesars, BetMGM, Hard Rock, etc.) should not have been offering odds, with the Crown not being approved by State Gaming Commissions, though I have yet to receive confirmation that this is the issue.

NOTE: I do not believe BetRivers ever offered Odds on the Crown until today. This does not extend to every legal US Sportsbook, just those that did offer odds on this event.

Odds for these games had been posted for a couple of days leading up to the event, and odds were widely available before the first game, Butler vs Utah, was about to tip off. Then slowly, the markets kept getting pulled. People widely wondered why, before connecting the dots.

When asked about this on VSIN, DK Sportsbook Director Johnny Avello said, "We were told to take them down," and that "the jurisdictions I guess didn't see this as one of the items we had on the menu for them to bet. It was college basketball, it just wasn't something that was already approved." "We had to take it down because we did not have the approval from a few jurisdictions."

Sportsbooks have responded to this very differently. It depends on states, but DraftKings for some has accepted bets, had those bets win, then decline to pay those users out. I received a DM from a gambler who bet on Butler, like “Big East Savant” here did, but did get his wager paid out, unlike in this case.

NOTE: This user then posted something about playing Villanova after his bet had been voided, despite DK not holding the bet, which is quite irresponsible in my opinion, but to each their own.

When asked about this specific case on VSIN, Avello had this to say, "DraftKings was told by a jurisdiction to void all the bets that we had already taken." As a reminder, wagering rules and restrictions vary from state to state, and that likely was the difference in this particular case.

I would urge bettors to read their books' state-specific house rules and reach out to customer support if anything happened in error.

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In promoting this event, FOX even had their own employee, John Fanta, go on Pardon My Take, the biggest sports podcast in the world (and one sponsored by DraftKings), and bring up gambling as a pitch to their viewers to watch the Crown. The Pardon My Take Audience largely consists of an audience of college kids and younger adults, who are the prime audience for gambling companies. 

Notice the Logo in the top right. Also want to note, Fanta was likely under the same impression we all were, that wagering was allowed. I don't think he should receive backlash for doing his job.

This event was brought to gamblers, as another event to bet on, and instead are now seemingly not allowed to, due to FOX not getting this event regulated as they should have.

With this event largely being promoted with gambling, including this article from FOX on betting odds, sponsored by DK Sportsbook, the book that has been told to void all wagers on the event, this brings up many questions for viewers and gamblers alike, none of which have yet been answered.

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Was this an oversight? Did they know that this event would not be allowed to be wagered on? Is there anything a user can do who won a wager, especially if they placed it on the book that specifically FOX chose to partner with, to get their money back?

With FOX sponsoring the event and using gambling to promote their event, just for their event to potentially not legally be allowed to be bet on with a lack of state gaming commission regulation, this is a big story.

I reached out to FOX for comment, but have yet to hear back. How regulators look to handle this matter will differ state by state, and I’ve reached out to the Indiana State Gaming Commission and am also awaiting a response.

But for now, bettors across the country remain in limbo, as the College Basketball Crown was promoted to them through the lens of legal gambling, but instead it seems as if Regulators and FOX both made errors here.