Joel Klatt weighs in on John Mateer’s ‘sports gambling’ controversy
Published:
Joel Klatt shared his two cents on the John Mateer “sports gambling” Venmo controversy that has garnered headlines this week.
Late Monday night, screenshots from Mateer’s Venmo account surfaced on social media. They showed two payments he made back in 2022 with “sports gambling” in the memo line. As sports betting is against NCAA rules for student-athletes, Mateer had some explaining to do. He was a freshman at Washington State at the time the payments were made.
Mateer issued a statement on Tuesday saying he has never bet on sports and claimed the Venmo transaction lines were simply an inside joke among friends.
Regardless of Mateer’s explanation, Klatt believes the entire saga was overblown from the very beginning.
“So let me get this straight,” Klatt wrote on social media. “We are gonna turn CFB into a lawless free for all with large sums of money flowing to players who can be free agents twice a year…but then gasp about three Venmo descriptions from 2022??? WHAT ARE WE DOING?!?!?”
The NCAA has a history of punishing student-athletes who bet on sports. Most recently, former Iowa State quarterback Hunter Dekkers suffered a permanent loss of eligibility after he bet on an Iowa State football game — as well as other sporting events — while enrolled at the school.
However, there’s currently no indication that Mateer’s Venmo history will be enough to trigger an official NCAA investigation. While Oklahoma has told reporters it will be thoroughly vetting the matter, it said in a statement on Tuesday that it does not believe an NCAA investigation is pending.
Mateer and the Sooners will begin the 2025 season against Illinois State on Aug. 30.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
