National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) president Charlie Baker says the organisation is moving to ban college prop bets from all US markets.
In a statement today (27 March), Baker said that the decision came after there were reports of athletes being harassed in relation to college prop bets.
“Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity of competition and leading to student-athletes and professional athletes getting harassed,” said Baker.
He added that some states contacted by the NCAA in reference to the threats outright banned college prop bets. “The NCAA has been working with states to deal with these threats and many are responding by banning college prop bets.”
One of these states was Ohio. Last month, its Casino Control Commission (OCCC) banned player prop bets on college sports following a request from the NCAA. Baker had reached out to the commission’s executive director Matt Schuler and requested a ban on college prop bets. Operators in Ohio had until 1 March to put the restrictions in place.
This follows the NCAA launching a number of student-athlete protection measures in recent months. These were sparked by a study it issued in September, which found one in four leading US college sports programmes had received reports of student-athletes being harassed by gambling-involved persons.
The following month it called for states to update existing laws to give more protections to college athletes and launched its first ever sports betting e-learning module.
Baker hopes states follow Ohio, Vermont and Maryland’s lead
Baker confirmed that the NCAA would continue to reach out to states regarding the harassment, specifically asking them to consider banning college prop bets.
“This week we will be contacting officials across the country in states that still allow these bets and ask them to join Ohio, Vermont, Maryland and many others and remove college prop bets from all betting markets,” he continued.
“The NCAA is drawing the line on sports betting to protect student-athletes and to protect the integrity of the game – issues across the country these last several days show there is more work to be done.”
Maryland’s prohibition on college prop bets took effect from 1 March. Vermont, meanwhile, announced its ban earlier this month.
Last week, NCAA launched Draw the Line, a campaign that aims to educate student-athletes about sports betting and gambling harm.
