Iowa College Athletes Want To Adjust Their Lawsuit Over Sports Betting Investigation

The group of current and former college student-athletes in Iowa suing the state’s Department of Public Safety and state officials over alleged illegal use of geolocation technology in a sports betting investigation want to adjust their lawsuit, per reporting from The Cedar Rapids Gazette.

In response to the Attorney General’s office filing to dismiss the players’ lawsuit in July, they are requesting to make the following adjustments:

• They will drop the state of Iowa as a defendant in the lawsuit, as well as the Iowa Department of Public Safety, DPS Commissioner Stephan Bayens, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and DCI Director Paul Feddersen.
• They will add new facts to the suit that will support claims that their constitutional rights to warrantless searches, equal protection, and due process of law were violated.
• They will add the following state officials, all DCI special agents, to the lawsuit: Christopher Adkins, Heather Duenow, Phillip Kennedy, and Christopher Swigart.

These changes are being made in an effort to gain a “just, speedy, and inexpensive determination” of the lawsuit, Matthew Boles, one of the player’s attorneys, wrote in the request to change the lawsuit, per The Gazette.

This request was filed before the Aug. 30 court-granted deadline for the players to respond to the AG office’s motion to dismiss.

What did Iowa AG’s motion to dismiss say?

In her July motion, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said the athletes’ constitutional rights were not violated and the geolocation technology usage by DCI was not illegal.

She asserted the athletes knowingly consented to their location being shared with third-party sports betting apps. Therefore, the athletes could have no reasonable assumption that their location data was private. 

“Plaintiffs knowingly and voluntarily shared their locations through their betting applications so they could gamble online,” the motion to dismiss said.

Bird’s office also stated the foundation of the lawsuit was off-base. The athletes’ universities and the NCAA banned them or suspended them from college sports, which is what the AG’s office claims is the root of the damages cited in the lawsuit. No Iowa state agency or any state official banned or suspended the athletes.

In addition, the motion stated that the players had no way of showing Bayens and Feddersen participated in any alleged constitutional violations.

“Finally, plaintiffs demand a civil recovery for their own criminal activity — and that’s just wrong as a matter of public policy,” the motion said. “Even if the plaintiffs’ rights were infringed, and even if they could link their damages to defendants’ acts, they have unclean hands.”

Directly addressing AG’s assertions

The athletes’ proposed changes to their lawsuit seem to address some of these main points of the motion to dismiss.

They’re removing Bayens and Feddersen from the lawsuit, as well as the Department of Public Safety and Division of Criminal Investigation — addressing the assertions about Bayens’ and Feddersen’s roles and perhaps addressing the AG office’s notion that state agencies shouldn’t be held liable for punishments universities levied on them.

They’re also saying they’ll add facts to directly support the claim that their constitutional rights were violated. The motion to dismiss said those rights were not violated.

Why are they suing?

The 26 athletes currently listed on the lawsuit, mostly from the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, allege that the DCI illegally used geofencing data from sports betting apps to identify wagering by the athletes and then also illegally searched their phones without warrants.

Although the state dismissed all charges against the athletes six months ago, these athletes faced NCAA suspensions or permanent bans as a result of this investigation. The NCAA forbids student-athletes from placing bets on any NCAA sport, even if the athlete is legally allowed to bet in their state. Athletes who place bets on their own sport permanently lose eligibility.

Hunter Dekkers was Iowa State’s starting quarterback. Arland Bruce IV was a star receiver at Iowa. They were just two of the high-profile athletes to lose NCAA eligibility as a result of the investigation.

Dekkers is now the starting quarterback at Iowa Western, a junior college powerhouse.

“I was just a stupid kid that made a stupid decision,” Dekkers recently told The Des Moines Register.

Bruce signed a Canadian Football League contract in late 2023 but then the contract was nullified, likely due to his connection to gambling on his own sport.

“Due to DCI’s actions and/or failures to legally investigate the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs were all indicted and some convicted, severely upending their lives, collegiate careers, and future opportunities,” the players’ 47-page lawsuit reads, in part.

11 more want to join the lawsuit

Eleven new current and former student-athletes in Iowa are asking to join the lawsuit, per reporting from The Gazette.

Those 11 athletes are:

• Paniro Johnson — former Iowa State wrestler who became the program’s first Big 12 champion at 149 pounds in 2023. The NCAA suspended him for one year and he has three years of eligibility remaining.
• Brennan Swafford — former Iowa wrestler who lost his final year of eligibility due to the gambling probe. 
• Corey Cabanban — former Iowa State wrestler who spent five years in the program.
• Samuel Schuyler — former Iowa State wrestler who is now a graduate assistant coach for the Cyclones.
• Carter Schmidt — former Iowa State wrestler who spent five years in the program.
• Nathan Schon — Iowa State wrestler who is currently listed as a sophomore on the team roster. Court documents allege he placed 865 bets totaling $11,700.
• Drew Woodley — Iowa State wrestler who is currently listed as a senior on the team roster. Court documents allege he placed 311 online bets, but none were on college wrestling.
• Jeremiah “Trey” Mathis III — former Iowa State football player. Court documents allege he placed 183 online bets totaling $556 in 2021.
• Evan Schuster — former Iowa men’s basketball student manager. Court documents allege he placed more than 2,000 bets, including nine on Iowa men’s basketball.
• Cameron “Cam” Jones — there is not enough information available to know exactly which Cameron Jones this refers to.
• Terry Roberts — there is not enough information available to know exactly which Terry Roberts this refers to.