Iowa athletes caught in gambling sting claim unlawful tracking

(CN) —A group of former Iowa student athletes, including former NFL player Eyioma Uwazurike, sued state officials Friday, claiming that law enforcement illegally collected location data from their phones in its efforts to crack down on improper sports betting. 

The 26 plaintiffs, mostly all former students at Iowa State University or the University of Iowa, said investigators’ use of a geolocation software to collect information on their locations in pursuit of identity theft and record-tampering charges violated their constitutional rights to be free from warrantless searches and unreasonable seizures.

In pursuing those criminal charges without lawfully-procured evidence, the athletes argued, the investigators had deprived them of career opportunities and a full collegiate experience. 

The software at issue, GeoComply, provides geolocation services to online sports betting companies like Draft Kings and Fan Duel. The athletes say that as part of those companies’ terms of service, users consented to share location data with GeoComply, which would in turn provide the data to the betting companies. 

The company abused that permission, the athletes claim, when it began partnering with state gambling investigators. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation launched a sports wagering unit in 2021, and by early 2022, GeoComply was offering its services to law enforcement agencies around the country.

The Iowa Racing and Gambling Commission, the athletes said, was reticent to allow the use of those services. Under pressure from special agent Troy Nelson, however, the commission allowed for use of GeoComply within the confines of an Iowa statute governing the records gambling institutions must provide to state regulators. 

Nelson, GeoComply and other Division of Criminal Investigation agents, the athletes accuse, quickly exceeded those limits. In a training, the company told agents that they could specifically target places where gambling was prohibited — and special agent Brian Sanger did so, focusing on University of Iowa and Iowa State campuses. 

“All of this occurred without the use and requirement of a warrant. At no point did SA Sanger have any information on illegal sports wagering occurring at ISU or UI facilities," the athletes say in the complaint. "Nevertheless, in early 2023, SA Sanger utilized GeoComply’s Technology to draw a boundary around the ISA and UI athletic facilities to specifically identify Plaintiffs engaging in sports betting activity.” 

Sanger and other investigators then subpoenaed the sports betting companies involved to obtain the identities of the account holders engaged in betting. Searches, seizures and criminal charges, most for underage gambling and identity theft, followed later that year. 

The National Collegiate Athletic Association bans its players from sports gambling, regardless of their sport. Almost all of the players involved in Iowa’s sports-betting sting were disciplined by the league as a result, with penalties ranging from suspension to revocation of eligibility. The few exceptions were players who left their programs voluntarily. 

GeoComply ended its partnership with the Iowa investigators, the athletes added, after learning of Sanger’s use of its data. 

Of the 26 plaintiffs, former NFL defensive end Eyioma Uwazurike went furthest in his professional sports career. Uwazurike was drafted by the Denver Broncos in April of 2022, and played a single season for the team before his indictment in July 2023.

Charges against Uwazurike were dismissed after his attorneys sought to suppress the information obtained with GeoComply, but he has not returned to play for the Broncos or any other NFL team. 

University of Iowa defensive tackle Noah Shannon, a possible star in the making who made news in August for admitting to gambling, is also a plaintiff in the suit. Shannon was not charged with any crimes, but was suspended for his senior season in connection with the sting. 

Charges against several other players have also been dropped. 

Football was not the only sport impacted by the sting; six University of Iowa wrestlers, four members of the school’s baseball team, two basketball players from both University of Iowa Iowa State University, and a baseball player from Ellsworth Community College are also plaintiffs in the suit. Five football players from University of Iowa and eight from Iowa State University also joined the claims.

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