A major NCAA player-led conference committee is advocating for sportsbooks and prediction markets to limit or ban individual college props.
Key Takeaways
- The Big Ten player commission says changes to college player props would be a “meaningful step” toward protecting the game and individuals.
- The integrity of college sports has been greatly challenged in recent months.
- Harassment from sports bettors has been a major concern for the NCAA for multiple years.
The Big Ten Student-Athlete Issues Commission (SAIC) recently urged NCAA president Charlie Baker to continue his efforts to change sports betting that the group believes would benefit college athletes.
“While we understand that sports betting is becoming increasingly more common across the country and allows for states to generate increased tax revenue, prop betting represents unique risks at the college level,” the SAIC wrote in a letter to Baker. “We believe protecting student-athletes must be a priority. Limiting or eliminating prop betting on college athletics would be a meaningful step toward reducing harassment, protecting mental well-being, and preserving the integrity of college competition.”
Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti supported the SAIC’s push and said the league appreciates the NCAA’s prohibition initiative.
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Integrity concern
One of the SAIC’s biggest issues around player prop betting is integrity. Federal prosecutors indicted 20 people on gambling charges, including 12 former college basketball players, in January. The NCAA has ruled numerous players ineligible over the last several months during the governing body’s own investigation into fixing games and performance manipulation.
The SAIC says markets on individual stats or plays lead to accusations, even for players who aren’t involved in any wrongdoing.
“Given the amateur status of student-athletes, external pressures associated with prop betting can be magnified,” the SAIC said. “These athletes are often young and more susceptible to influence, including financial incentives that may encourage them to perform in a certain way or affect specific outcomes."
Threats to players
Baker has been asking state regulators and lawmakers for help to prohibit player prop bans for nearly two years. Only a handful of legal sports betting jurisdictions have honored his request. Earlier this year, he challenged the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates prediction market platforms, to take action on college contracts being offered.
The NCAA president has cited a growing and continuing threat of harassment from sports bettors. The SAIC echoed this, saying in the letter that “prop betting exposes players to increased and aggravated social media pressure and harassment” when individual stats aren’t reached.
Players have also become much more vocal in recent years about the threats they receive. The commission called these messages, typically received on social media, “harmful, unnecessary, and often relentless,” affecting players’ mental health.
“Student-athletes should not be blamed or attacked for the outcome of someone else’s bet,” the SAIC stated. “There are fans that sit behind the bench yelling horrible things when expectations are not met, and the keyboard warriors not in attendance send cruel DMs to players when bets do not cash out. Prop bets are a direct avenue to the overwhelming number of death threats that student-athletes receive if they “ruin a parlay” or cause a fan to lose their bet. Sports betting does not give anyone the right to dehumanize athletes.”
