A growing concern

Ever since the federal ban on sports betting came to an end in the US in May 2018, the NCAA has warned about potential game integrity issues. Numerous betting scandals have already hit the college sports scene over the past year, making this an even more relevant debate.

believes that legal sports betting is having a significant impact on athletes

NCAA President Charlie Baker believes that legal sports betting is having a significant impact on athletes, singling out player proposition bets, in particular. These popular types of wagers allow bettors to try to predict if a player will hit defined targets during a given game, such as scoring a certain number of points or running for a particular number of yards.

Calling for a ban

Baker doesn’t believe that prop bets should be permitted for college sports, despite them being widely available across popular sportsbooks in at least eight states. He is calling on individual states to implement legislation that will ban these types of markets for college sports.

One of the main concerns for college athletes is the pressure that they might come under to engage in match-fixing or even just feel the heat when their friends are placing wagers on the outcome of games. This is even more so the case when prop bets are part of the conversation, as these wagers do not relate to the final outcome of the event, making them more of an enticing target for potential match-fixers as they can slip under the radar.

Another area of concern is the potential of sharing inside information. This is what led to the University of Alabama baseball team’s head coach getting fired in May. He allegedly told someone about an injury to his team’s starting pitcher, who then tried to place a six-figure bet on the back of this information while in communication with the coach.  

Big business

Baker took over as NCAA president in March, having previously served as the governor of Massachusetts between 2015 and 2023. He isn’t as anti-gambling as his predecessor in the college sports governing body; he backed the legalization of sports betting on professional events when he was in political office.

Baker signed legislation into law in August 2022 to allow wagering on both professional and college sports in Massachusetts. The main exclusion in this bill was the prohibition of betting on home-state college teams when they’re not taking part in tournaments.

Sports betting is now big business in the US, with more than 30 states currently having legal wagering. These operations generate tax revenue for local and state governments, as well as take money away from the black market. Americans wagered an estimated $93bn last year through legal sportsbooks, with about 16% of it bet on the March Madness college basketball tournament.

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