With the pageantry and excitement of March Madness on the horizon, the NCAA and president Charlie Baker are expressing concerns about sports betting and its effect on the tournament.
Key Takeaways
- Baker says sports betting is fueling abusive behavior toward players, coaches, and officials, calling the current environment “crazy.”
- The NCAA is increasing integrity measures during March Madness, including monitoring harassment and working with partners to limit abuse.
- Prediction markets and prop betting remain major concerns, with the NCAA pushing for stricter guardrails and potential regulatory action.
Speaking with CBS News and Nate Burleson, Baker spoke at length about sports betting, particularly with regard to efforts being made to curb foul play, as well as the increasing prominence of prediction markets.
“It's thousands of really abusive messages that are being directed at young people and at coaches and officials, too ... the bottom line is this is all being driven by betting,” Baker said in the interview on Wednesday.
“We have a deal with Venmo to help us shut people off when they’re harassing some of the kids because they don’t deliver on their props. I mean, this is crazy town with respect to how this is working right now.”
The NCAA president also made abundantly clear that additional measures were being taken proactively with the spotlight of March Madness at its brightest.
“We’ve been big advocates of getting rid of prop bets in college sports. I think it puts enormous pressure on the kids who are just trying to play the games,” he noted. “If you track any of the nonsense they deal with both in the arena and on social media, it’s brutal. I think we’re the only league that actually hires somebody to track that stuff during our championships.”
Baker also pointed to the NCAA’s broad integrity monitoring efforts, part of which have resulted in the exposure of athletes participating in match-fixing efforts.
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Prediction markets also a key point of contention
In addition to concerns related to sports betting and its impacts on the NCAA, Baker also shared thoughts on prediction markets, which have exploded in popularity.
“Well, first of all, you can start doing it at the age of 18, which, in almost every state, you can’t gamble legally until you’re 20 or 21. That’s problem number one,” Baker said. “Problem number two is, they don’t collect the kind of data that you’re required to collect if you’re a sportsbook.
“We sent them a long letter that outlined all of our concerns, and frankly, they said to us that the entity that oversees them, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, actually enters into memorandums of understanding with interested parties,” he added. “And I think we’re an interested party in this.”
With the NCAA advocating for stronger guardrails and pushing back on the continued encroachment of prediction markets, Baker says that the NCAA is prepared for whatever comes next.
“They said they would publish our letter as part of their public comment period, and then we’re looking forward to having a discussion with them, and if we don’t get anywhere with them, we’ll explore other options to deal with that.”
