Oklahoma QB John Mateer’s Venmo activity has CFB fans in a frenzy

It wouldn't be a true modern offseason without some sort of sports betting scandal hitting college football. The 2025 season is so close we can taste it, but first we've got to stuff our faces with a plateful of empty carbs courtesy of Oklahoma quarterbacks John Mateer, Venmo and the words "sports gambling."

On Monday, social media exploded with screenshots of Mateer's alleged Venmo account. The issue? In 2022, Mateer appears to have paid Richard Roaten — who may be former Washington State teammate Landon Roaten — for "sports gambling."

John Mateer's Venmo transactions

"Sports gambling (UCLA vs USC)," a transaction reads from Nov. 20, 2022.

"Sports gambling," reads another from the same day.

Roaten also sent a payment Mateer's way labeled, "ultra sports gambling FIFA world cup."

The account has deleted all transactions since the screenshots hit X, so I can't personally confirm these are genuine. However, I'll take the word of Grayson Weir of BroBible and numerous other social media accounts who seem to have found the same transactions (and more displaying juvenile humor of a NSFW nature).

Social media has a lot of fun with this one.

Social media reaction to John Mateer's Venmo payments

The Ippei Mizuhara jokes write themselves. Shohei Ohtani's former translator and apparent gambling addict is serving a lengthy jail sentence for his financial crimes right now.

Mateer does seem to have one big thing on Ippei.

Oklahoma fans logged on and promptly logged back off.

Rival fans never want to log off again.

What about that USC vs. UCLA game? It might have been a bad beat for some folks out there. Korey Foreman picked off Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the waning moments to seal the victory for the Trojans, 48-45.

Remember JJ McCarthy's famous "bet" line? Who knew that declaration would reemerge in this way in 2025.

But hey, we know the NCAA's very strong stance against sports gambling...

How much trouble is John Mateer in over Venmo posts about "sports gambling"?

Right now? Mateer is not in even a little bit of trouble. The quarterback was a freshman at Washington State when the payments were made, so he would be under the purview of NCAA rules. However, it's not like he was Venmoing a sportsbook. The press is less than ideal, but Mateer could easily brush this off with the excuse that he was making a joke. The other transactions on his account back up the idea that he didn't label his payments in literal fashion.

Unless something more emerges on this front, we're going to chalk it up to good ol' offseason social media silliness.

This is a good reminder for young athletes though. The internet is forever and the stuff you put on social medio or even your personal finance accounts can also pop back up. The last thing you want is for childish games to turn serious once you become a household name.