Joel Klatt calls out hypocrisy around John Mateer’s sports gambling controversy

On Monday night, Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer became the center of controversy after screenshots of an apparent Venmo transaction from him titled “sports gambling” were uncovered and posted to social media. But according to Fox college football analyst Joel Klatt, the outrage surrounding the situation is far greater than it should be compared to other key issues around the sport.

The screenshots of the transactions show that Mateer, who was a freshman at Washington State at the time of the transitions in 2022, sent several payments to a man named Richard Roaten on November 20, 2022. One of was titled “Sports gambling” and the other was titled “Sports gambling (UCLA vs USC).” Additionally, three days later, Rotten sent a payment to Mateer titled “Ultra sports gambling Fifa World Cup.”

The Oklahoma athletic department is aware of the allegations against Mateer, which Mateer also addressed publicly in a statement on social media on Tuesday, claiming that the past descriptions of the Venmo transactions was simply an “inside joke” between he and his friends and that he has “never bet on sports.”

“The allegations that I once participated in sports gambling are false,” wrote Mateer in his statement. “My previous Venmo descriptions did not accurately portray the transactions in question but were instead inside jokes between me and my friends. I have never bet on sports. I understand the seriousness of the matter, but recognize that, taken out of context, those Venmo descriptions suggest otherwise. I can assure my teammates, coaches, and officials at the NCAA that I have not engaged in any sports gambling.”

Obviously, this revelation will likely spark a full-fledged investigation from the NCAA into John Mateer and any potential involvement in sports gambling considering the NCAA has strict rules prohibiting student athletes from placing wagers on sports.

Interestingly, Joel Klatt had a bit of a different reaction to these screenshots as the vast majority of fans or media members around the sport. Instead of questioning whether Mateer did or did not place sports bets, Klatt largely absolved him of any blame either way, explaining how he believes it is far from the biggest concern in the landscape of college football.

In particular, Joel Klatt called the current landscape of college football a “lawless free for all” due to the lack of regulations in the transfer portal and NIL within college sports.

“So let me get this straight,” wrote Klatt. “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?!?!?”

One could argue that Klatt’s argument here is an apples to oranges comparison. It’s fairly obvious as to why regulations are in place on athletes placing sports bets, as it could jeopardize the integrity of the game as we have seen recently in the MLB and the NBA. So if John Mateer did indeed place bets on a college football game, whether he was involved in the game or not, there should be some sort of repercussions.

However, given the fact that there have been numerous media members around college football who have consistently aired their own grievances about the problems with the transfer portal in the NIL era of the sport, it is certainly fair to question whether more of the outrage about Mateer should be directed elsewhere.