Ohio Sportsbooks Immediately Halt All Betting On Alabama Baseball After Alleged 'Suspicious Activity'

In a very interesting move on Monday, gambling regulators in Ohio told all legal sportsbooks to stop taking bets on Alabama baseball. According to a report, there was allegedly suspicious activity in regard to Alabama and its game against LSU last Friday, which led to the halting of bets.

Ohio Casino Control Commission executive director Matthew T. Schuler issued a directive to all state-licensed sportsbooks. He called for sportsbooks to stop "the acceptance of any wagers on University of Alabama baseball effective immediately." The report from ESPN said that they obtained a letter from the director outlining the details.

The NCAA has now responded to the story involving Alabama baseball.

“The NCAA takes sports wagering very seriously and is committed to the protection of student-athlete well-being and the integrity of competition,” the NCAA said in a statement Tuesday. “We are aware of this issue and actively gathering additional information.”

It is legal to bet through apps in Ohio. A number of prominent betting apps include FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, BetFred and others.

This certainly caught many folks off-guard, as you don't see this very often at all within college athletics. The report states that an independent monitoring service noted 'suspicious activity' involving Alabama in its loss to LSU last Friday.

"On Friday, U.S. Integrity, a Las Vegas-based firm that monitors the betting markets, issued an alert to its sportsbook clients regarding 'suspicious wagering activity' involving the Alabama-LSU game," the report states.

Alabama played at LSU last Friday, where there was allegedly suspicious gambling activityCourtesy of Alabama Athletics

State By State Basis For Gambling Restrictions

Since there is no national regulator, these types of moves have to be enacted by each state. Since gambling laws are different for each state, they can create their own regulations. Rules can vary depending on location, which is why Ohio is the only known state right now to have halted bets involving the Tide.

This is overall very vague right now, with LSU being -245 money line favorites for the Friday contest. Also, the Tigers are ranked first in the country, so I'm interested to see what an investigation might find. There are also theories on social media as to what may have happened in regards to the betting.

Alabama was in a deep hole through the first six innings on Friday night, as LSU led 8-1.

Alabama did make a comeback. They scored a run in the eighth and four more in the ninth to make it an 8-6 loss. LSU would go on to defeat Alabama 12-8 on Saturday, followed by 13-11 win on Sunday to complete the series sweep.

This incident in question regarding the baseball team is a head scratcher for many, with one SEC administrator telling me late Monday night "This is a new one for me, very strange."

OutKick reached out to the Ohio Casino Control Commission late Monday night, along with the SEC. Both parties have yet to respond for comment. We will keep you updated on the latest information from this bizarre story.

Alabama will play Vanderbilt in a three-game series starting on Thursday.