It’s been over a year since NCAA president Charlie Baker urged state lawmakers and regulators to ban player prop betting on college athletes, with little response. That could be changing in New Jersey.
Key Takeaways
- S3080 would ban sportsbooks from offering betting markets on individual college player stats.
- The bill was easily approved by a committee and is headed to the Senate floor.
- If it becomes law, New Jersey would join more than a dozen states that have outlawed college player props.
A bill prohibiting New Jersey sports betting operators from offering “player-specific proposition bets on college sports” was passed by the Senate’s Government, Wagering, Tourism, and Historic Preservation Committee on Thursday by a vote of 5-0.
S3080 is headed to the Senate floor.
“Proposition bets have led to a rise in the harassment of student-athletes and have threatened the integrity of college sports,” said Sen. Kristen Corrado, who introduced the bill in April following legislative attempts last year to ban college player props.
“I have heard about many individuals who have been the victim of online harassment because they didn’t perform to the expectation of a bettor who made a side wager. This legislation will ban player-specific prop betting in New Jersey, which will help curb that appalling behavior and make college athletic events safer for all participants.”
Battling harassment
The Garden State bill defines “proposition bet” as a side wager on a part of a sport or athletic event that does not concern the final outcome of the sport or athletic event. A ban would prevent sportsbooks from posting markets on individual college players’ stats, like the number of rebounds or passing yards.
Harassment of college athletes has been at the forefront for the NCAA president since assuming his position, citing online abuse from sports bettors as a major issue. Last year, Ohio, Maryland, Vermont, and Louisiana complied with the NCAA’s request and took college player props off the board, joining 11 other legal sports betting states that have outlawed them completely. There hasn’t been much movement since Baker’s request. Other legislative efforts, like in North Carolina, failed to gain traction last year.
"Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity and competition and leading to student-athletes and professional athletes getting harassed,” Baker said in a March 2024 statement. “The NCAA has been working with states to deal with these threats, and many are responding by banning college prop bets.”
Cases of online abuse
College athletes have been more outspoken about the abuse. In March 2024, former North Carolina basketball star Armando Bacot said he received direct messages on social media from disgruntled bettors when he didn’t reach specific stat totals in games.
Former Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne had bettors requesting financial retribution on his Venmo account last year. More recently, Mississippi State women’s basketball player Chandler Prater said she received “hateful and abusive” messages after an NCAA tournament game this year.
An NCAA-sponsored study found a 23% year-over-year drop-off of betting-related harassment during March Madness, the same year the NCAA launched an anti-online abuse campaign.
