NCAA president Charlie Baker announced on Wednesday that he wants states with legalized sports gambling to ban prop betting on collegiate athletics. Baker’s remarks come as the NBA is in the midst of an investigation into prop betting activity earlier this year.
Baker’s statement reads: “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. The NCAA has been working with states to deal with these threats and many are responding by 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. 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.”
Proposition (prop) bets are those unrelated to the score of a game. They can include an individual player’s expected points, rebounds and more. The NCAA prohibits betting activity and providing information to those involved in betting in relation to collegiate, amateur and professional sports competitions.,
The NCAA announced March 19 that it launched a “Draw the Line” campaign, which provides student athletes with education on the effects of sports gambling while also addressing additional issues with gambling. A 2023 NCAA study found that 67% of 18- to 22-year-olds on college campuses have engaged in sports betting, with the NCAA stating on its website that “player-specific prop bets create circumstances where student-athletes and other athletics personnel received targeted harassment by bettors.”
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