NCAA could change rules to allow student athletes to bet on pro sports
The NCAA could allow student athletes and staff members to bet on professional sports, with the Division 1 Council believing the Association needs to narrow its focus.
The Division 1 Council said the proposal will allow the Association to spend more time on college sports betting and behaviours that might impact the integrity of college sports.
With the Division 1 Council set to finalise the proposal on Wednesday, the NCAA can only implement the proposal if Division II and III also allow betting on pro sports.
The Division 1 Council stressed this stance was not a softening of their stance towards sports betting, with their ban on betting on college sports, or passing on information to bettors, still in place.
“NCAA rules prohibiting sports betting at all levels were written and adopted at a time when sports gambling was largely illegal nationwide,” Athletics Director at Illinois and Chair of the Division 1 Council Josh Whitman said.
“As betting on sports has become more widely accepted across the country, Division I members have determined that further discussion of these sports betting rules is warranted, particularly as it relates to the potential distinctions between betting on professional versus collegiate sports.”
The NCAA has to walk to the tightrope when it comes to sports betting, with it important to balance their strict rules with doses of reality around stopping harms related to gambling.
“Deregulating professional sports betting may provide schools an additional opportunity to implement harm-reduction strategies, which can be more effective and have long-term benefits not seen with abstinence-only approaches. Harm-reduction strategies include education, stigma reduction and acknowledging actual behaviors,” NCAA chief medical officer Dr. Deena Casiero said.
“By meeting student-athletes where they are, schools may be more effective at preventing, identifying and supporting student-athletes with problematic gambling behaviors. Regardless of the change, schools are encouraged to use the many sports betting resources already available.”
The NCAA has long been a proponent of safe gambling with recent examples including a call for caps on risky prop bets and calling for transparency from betting sites, which includes cooperating with them, when they are investigating any suspicious bets on their competitions.
NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball are two of the most popular sports events in the USA, and some fans prefer it over the professional game, with events like March Madness drawing extraordinary levels of wagering.
Betting on the NCAA is allowed in some states, but this is very much on a case-by-case basis, while international fans of US sports are free to wager on college football and basketball.
