Betting on professional sports will remain off-limits for college athletes.
- Division I schools voted to revoke a rule change that would have let college athletes and staff bet on pro sports, keeping the NCAA’s full betting ban in place.
- The reversal came amid recent sports betting integrity scandals, including infractions involving Temple’s men’s basketball team.
- Pushback from within college sports, including a strong objection from the SEC commissioner, likely contributed to the NCAA dropping the proposed relaxation.
The NCAA announced on Friday that after a month-long procedural period, two-thirds of Division I members schools had voted to revoke a previously approved rule change that would have let student-athletes and athletic department staffers bet on professional sports only.
“Because sports betting rules are common legislation, the ban on all forms of betting – for sports in which the NCAA sponsors a championship – will remain in place for all three NCAA divisions,” the NCAA said in a statement.
While the proposed tweak would have allowed for flexibility for college athletes living in the age of widespread legal sports betting, Friday’s announcement from the college sports sanctioning body comes amid recent integrity scandals involving sports betting.
Former Temple men’s basketball student-athlete, staff members violated sports betting rules. https://t.co/xkGum5tiSX
— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) November 21, 2025
One such scandal was also addressed on Friday, as the NCAA announced infractions involving the Temple men’s basketball team.
Friday’s decision to drop the proposed relaxation of betting rules for college athletes also came after the NCAA delayed implementation of the tweak amid pushback, including from within college sports.
One source of that pushback was the commissioner of the popular and influential SEC conference.
“On behalf of our universities, I write to urge action by the NCAA Division I Board of Directors to rescind this change and reaffirm the Association's commitment to maintaining strong national standards that keep collegiate participants separated from sports wagering activity at every level,” Greg Sankey wrote in a letter to the NCAA. “If there are legal or practical concerns about the prior policy, those should be addressed through careful refinement – not through wholesale removal of the guardrails that have long supported the integrity of games and the well-being of those who participate.”
