IC360’s ProhiBet to screen March Madness referees for betting detection

(AsiaGameHub) –   Fifty years following Indiana University’s historic 1976 NCAA championship win that capped an unforgettable season, Americans are projected to bet billions of dollars on this year’s March Madness tournament.

The American Gaming Association estimates that when U.S. bettors finalize their brackets and place their last wagers on the 2026 NCAA tournament, roughly $3.3 billion will be staked on the event. One group strictly prohibited from betting on the tournament is the referees who officiate the games themselves. Ahead of the tournament, the NCAA is deploying advanced monitoring systems to detect if officials are breaking these rules.

Last week, the NCAA announced a partnership with Integrity Compliance 360 to use the company’s ProhiBet solution for monitoring tournament officials. Over 200 officials—including alternates—will undergo screening via this technology. Beyond basketball, the NCAA will collaborate with IC360 to monitor officials during the Division I baseball and softball championships.

“Implementing ProhiBet is a major step in increasing integrity protections for college sports,” Mark Hicks, the NCAA’s managing director of enforcement, said in a news release. “This platform adds another layer to the NCAA’s robust integrity monitoring programme as we work to keep competition integrity and student-athlete well-being paramount in a rapidly evolving sports betting environment.”

Since the 2018 PASPA ruling, the NCAA has not publicly disclosed any cases of referees being caught wagering on sports. Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was imprisoned in 2008 for betting on games he officiated, while MLB fired umpire Pat Hoberg last year for sharing a betting account with an acquaintance.

How it works

Anonymity is perhaps the most appealing feature of ProhiBet. Founded by Matt Heap, former chief of investigations with the Colorado Department of Gaming, ProhiBet includes an encrypted cross-monitoring platform that assists regulators and sports governing bodies in a comprehensive investigative process.

To find matches between a sportsbook operator’s database and a regulator’s database, ProhiBet uses several inputs: first name, last name, date of birth, telephone numbers, an individual’s address, and social security number. After an NCAA official passes a background check, their personally identifiable information (PII) will be crosschecked for verification purposes.

Common names can make an investigator’s job challenging. In the NCAA tournament, Iowa State’s Milan Momcilovic and Michigan’s Yaxel Lendenborg have unique names, but Joshua Jefferson—a teammate of Momcilovic—has a more common name.

ProhiBet uses a tool called “cryptographic hashing” for additional privacy. Through hashing, a referee’s name (e.g., Roger Ayres) can be converted to a tag like FY87@%!hgdk95h. If there’s a match between Ayres’ hashed tag (FY87@%!hgdk95h) in a sportsbook database and the one used by a regulator, it may indicate improper betting.

“This collaboration sets a new industry benchmark and reinforces the importance of proactive deterrence and detection in keeping collegiate athletics fair,” said IC360 co-CEO Scott Sadin in a statement.

For Heap, this partnership may mark the first steps toward ProhiBet’s broader expansion across the U.S. with other sports bodies.

“The closer you get to ubiquitous coverage across all leagues, the smaller the windows of opportunity are for people to sneak through,” he told iGB last December. “That’s the ultimate goal for ProhiBet.”

First guilty plea in point shaving case

Also last week, Jalen Smith pleaded guilty in a Pennsylvania court to federal match-fixing charges. Smith, a presumed ringleader in the college basketball point-shaving case, is the first defendant to enter a guilty plea in the matter. Two other defendants—Shane Hennen and Marves Fairley—are also facing charges in a Brooklyn sports betting case that has ensnared several NBA figures.

Given his strict commitment to integrity, the late Bob Knight would likely find the scandal troubling. Under Knight in 1976, Indiana finished its season 32-0. The Hoosiers are the last Division I college basketball team to go undefeated for an entire season.

Miami (Ohio) went 31-0 in the regular season, becoming only the eighth team in the last 50 years to finish the regular season undefeated. The Redhawks were upset by UMass in the Mid-American Conference tournament. Miami (1%) is a longshot at Kalshi to win the NCAA tournament.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Duke is the favorite at Kalshi (20%) to capture the title. Three other teams—Michigan, Arizona, and Florida—have a probability over 10% to cut down the nets at the Final Four.