Indiana may ban betting on college player props at state-regulated sportsbooks someday, but it won’t be until after the start of the coming football season.
- The Indiana Gaming Commission delayed a decision on banning college player prop bets until September so it can conduct more research.
- The NCAA urged Indiana to ban the bets, citing concerns about student-athlete harassment and match-fixing, including a recent betting scandal involving a former Indiana football player.
- Sports betting industry representatives argued a ban would push wagering to unregulated markets rather than stop harassment or integrity issues.
Members of the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC), wanting more time to ponder and research the subject, decided Thursday to postpone a decision on a possible college player prop betting ban until their Sept. 24 meeting.
That will be one day before defending national champion Indiana is scheduled to play the fourth game of its college football season against Northwestern.
"We’ll think about it and do more research, and hopefully we can get this resolved in September," commissioner Troy Helman said during Thursday’s meeting.
The IGC’s decision comes as the governing body has, for several years, pushed state lawmakers and regulators to prohibit such betting markets over concerns of student-athlete harassment and match manipulation.
It also follows the recent revelation of a high-profile college betting scandal that happened in Indiana. As part of a broader, ongoing legal saga, it was reported that former Hoosiers quarterback Brendan Sorsby placed bets involving Indiana football while he was on the roster.
Here is the full text of Ohio's ban on college player prop betting, which is now part of the state's event and wager catalogue:https://t.co/2WwekrIWl6 pic.twitter.com/McEHSfs8qv
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) February 23, 2024
The “high-profile issue” was mentioned by NCAA officials during their presentation to the IGC on Thursday, as part of their request for the Indiana sports betting regulator to ban college player prop betting.
“We think having targets on the backs of student-athletes is especially concerning when you have player performance at stake,” said Mark Hicks, managing director of enforcement for the NCAA.
Nineteen jurisdictions that legalized sports betting in the U.S. have already moved to ban college player props, said Tim Buckley, senior vice president of external affairs for the NCAA.
While it’s not a “silver bullet” for stopping harassment (and a 2025 NCAA survey found 46% of D1 men's basketball players reported receiving abusive, betting-related messages), the NCAA views the measure as an effective one.
“We believe banning props will go a long way to preventing that stuff from happening in the first place,” Buckley said.
Now you see it ...
But the IGC must weigh the NCAA’s concerns against those of the legal sports betting industry, representatives of which warned that banning college player props will just chase that action toward unregulated operators. What the industry would prefer is more targeted measures, with those targets being the harassers themselves.
“(A ban) does not eliminate harassment,” said Scott Ward, an attorney appearing on behalf of the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA). “It just eliminates critical visibility and data used by this commission and the NCAA to identify integrity concerns. These prop bets will continue, just not under your watchful eye.”
A report this morning from investment bank Citizens JMP Securities suggests almost $200 million in gaming revenue could be "at risk" if additional college player prop betting bans are imposed.
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) March 28, 2024
The NCAA and its president, Charlie Baker, plan to push more states for those bans. pic.twitter.com/0DwFIMZGeg
Ward noted the most recent state regulator to consider the NCAA’s request, in Missouri, declined to ban college player props. He also predicted an “explosion” of college player props this football season via prediction markets (some of which belong to SBA members), the federally regulated exchanges that are trying to avoid state-level oversight.
However, the NCAA doesn’t see the warnings about a ban leading to black-market activity as a real threat. Buckley said he worked on legalizing sports betting in Massachusetts, which has never permitted college player props and that still has a thriving sports betting industry.
“There is no evidence to suggest that there’s a thriving black market with prop bets in that state,” Buckley said.
