The final step to alter NCAA rules to allow student-athletes to bet on non-collegiate sports was passed on Wednesday, beginning a new era for the governing body.
Key Takeaways
- The NCAA’s new betting policy goes into effect on Nov. 1.
- The governing body did not endorse sports betting in its latest relaxing of policies.
- There have been several sports betting issues over the last few years.
The Division II Management Council approved “noncontroversial” legislation that had already been rubber-stamped by the Division I Cabinet and the Division III Management Council, setting the new rule into effect on Nov. 1.
College athletes are still not allowed to participate in any NCAA betting, nor can they share information for gambling purposes, two longstanding policies, but they can wager on professional sports beginning in November.
"Our action reflects alignment across divisions while maintaining the principles that guide college sports," said Roberta Page, director of athletics at Slippery Rock and chair of the Division II Management Council. "This change recognizes the realities of today's sports environment without compromising our commitment to protecting the integrity of college competition or the well-being of student-athletes.”
Not an endorsement
Before the change, college athletes couldn’t take part in any form of sports betting without facing NCAA penalties, including eligibility restrictions. However, with nearly 40 U.S. states having legalized sports wagering, the NCAA has relaxed its policies for the last few years.
College athletics’ governing body, however, said on Wednesday that allowing athletes to bet “is not an endorsement” of the act, and that the legislation “further emphasized the importance of schools using harm reduction strategies and resources provided by the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports and the Sport Science Institute.”
The NCAA also made it clear that the rule change does not apply to marketing and advertising. Schools are not allowed to partner with sports betting companies like FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM.
Betting issues
The NCAA has had several gambling scandals related to both collegiate and pro sports over the last few years. Two years ago, Iowa law enforcement uncovered that numerous underage athletes at Iowa State and the University of Iowa were using sports betting accounts set up without using their own identities to wager on college games.
College basketball is still in the middle of a massive federal and NCAA investigation into widespread game manipulation that includes more than a dozen players at six schools. Three former Fresno State players were recently banned for betting involvement of their own player props, which is not part of the federal probe.
Several athletic staff members at various schools, like former Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon, have also been penalized for wagering on college sports.
Taking a stand
The NCAA took a hard stance against player prop betting last year, asking state regulators and legislators to stop allowing sportsbooks to offer individual stat-based wagering markets. Only a few legal sports betting jurisdictions complied.
The college sports governing body has released numerous studies connecting harassment of student-athletes to disgruntled sports bettors. The NCAA launched a campaign targeted at bettors during the March Madness earlier this year.
