A panel of experts told a House subcommittee that restricting college player prop bets could help address problems associated with sports betting on campuses, including harassment of student-athletes.
- An expert panel said banning college player props could help protect student-athletes and reduce gambling-related risks.
- Witnesses raised concerns about athlete harassment, problem gambling and financial stress among college students.
- Panelists called for stronger federal oversight of sports betting advertising and regulation.
Harassment of college athletes by sports bettors was a central topic during Wednesday's Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development hearing, titled "The Rise of Sports Gambling on College Campuses."
“Sports betting, in particular proposition bets on college athletics, I do think needs to be addressed,” subcommittee vice chair Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.) said during the hearing. “It exposes students to harassment and has even called into question the integrity of college athletics.”
Legal sports betting is currently regulated at the state level, although Congress could establish additional federal oversight. Baumgartner said he introduced a bill that would help protect athletes against “problematic harassment.”
Several witnesses argued that banning college player props could help protect student-athletes from harassment and reduce concerns about the integrity of college sports.
“I would agree with eliminating prop bets, particularly for college sports,” Ole Miss associate professor Dr. Daniel Durkin said at the hearing. “I think that would go a long way toward (prevention).”
Athlete harassment raises concerns
Durkin described the harassment experienced by some college athletes as “scary.” He cited Venmo requests tied to lost wagers and threats from bettors who had lost parlays as things “athletes don’t need to be dealing with ... particularly young people.”
Massachusetts Gaming Commission chair Jordan Maynard supported restrictions on college player prop bets, saying the state's rules helped mitigate health and safety concerns for athletes.
“If you don't have to face someone who's placed a bet on you, that to me has to naturally help,” Maynard said.
Durkin also described a scenario in which a student with a gambling problem might pressure a friend on the basketball team to miss a couple of shots to help a player prop bet pay out without intentionally throwing the game.
Enjoying Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account“The things we need to do with our prevention is teach (students) that just like with alcohol, drugs, and some of the other things we teach them about, this behavior has risks, and you need to be aware of it and make an informed decision about what you're doing,” Durkin said.
Calls for stronger regulation
University of Michigan chief mental health officer Lindsey Mortenson told the subcommittee that eliminating player prop bets could reduce the temptation for athletes to manipulate their performances to benefit bettors.
The NCAA asked state gaming regulators and lawmakers in legal U.S. sports betting states to ban college player prop markets in March 2024. Only a handful of states took action, including Massachusetts.
Cindy Clouner, managing director of Ohio State University's Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery, told lawmakers Wednesday that the federal government could do more to address the issue.
“Having a stronger federal regulatory lens can help because those state patchwork laws still put our players at risk, even in states where we are not able to gamble on our own athletes,” Clouner said.
Broader concerns
The hearing also covered concerns beyond player props, including problem gambling, financial stress, sports betting advertising, and prediction markets that allow users as young as 18 to trade sports event contracts.
“Nowhere has the surge of online betting been more pronounced than college campuses,” Baumgartner said. “Young people, and young men in particular, gamble at outsized rates. According to an NCAA survey, 67% of students living on campus had bet on sports, and 16% had shown problem gambling behaviors such as ‘chasing losses’ or spending more money on bets than they planned. Six percent of students reported they had lost more than $500 in a single day. Those figures are from 2023 and are likely even higher today.”
Durkin said his research showed gambling rates on college campuses in Mississippi, which doesn’t offer online sports betting, are just as high as schools in fully legal sports betting states.
Maynard identified sports betting advertising as a concern and said federal regulation of sportsbook marketing could help address the issue. Witnesses also raised concerns about illegal offshore sports betting operators and discussed the role of federal enforcement in combating them.
