A U.S. House subcommittee will hold a hearing this week on the impact of sports betting on college campuses.
- The meeting will explore betting on campus, harassment, and college player props.
- There have been various efforts to ban college player prop bets.
- Some states already take measures to protect college-aged individuals, such as restricting advertising near campuses.
The House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development confirmed it will hold a hearing titled “The Rise of Sports Gambling on College Campuses” at 10:15 a.m. on Wednesday. The meeting will be held at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C.
Although an official meeting agenda was not released to the public, the meeting will be streamed on the subcommittee’s YouTube channel.
The hearing comes eight years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports betting. Since then, 39 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized sports betting, with each jurisdiction determining its own approach.
Sports betting by and on college students has become a point of interest. Many states prohibit sportsbooks from advertising near college campuses.
The American Gaming Association also updated its responsible marketing code in 2023, prohibiting its members from entering university partnerships that promote sports betting. Exceptions include partnerships focused on alumni networks or responsible gaming education and problem gambling awareness.
College player prop bets - wagers on individual players' performances rather than the outcome of a game - have also proved controversial. Several scandals have involved players conspiring with bettors to manipulate their on-field performances.
NCAA president Charlie Baker has repeatedly campaigned for states to restrict college player prop bets from their available catalogs. Numerous states implemented partial or complete bans in response.
To further those efforts, Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) introduced the PROTECT Student Athletes Act last February. The bill would ban player props involving student-athletes while still allowing wagers on college events.
What lawmakers want to examine
The upcoming subcommittee hearing will include firsthand experience from chair Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT), who played college football at Miami from 1969-72. Owens was a first-team All-American at Miami before being selected in the first round of the 1973 NFL Draft.
Lawmakers will examine potential gaps in the current regulatory framework. That includes student gambling, the harassment of student-athletes, and the legality of college player prop bets.
The hearing also comes at a time when increased attention is being paid to matters of gambling. On Oct. 22, Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-FL) asked the Atlantic Coast Conference to explain its sports betting policies in writing.
“Seeing as the ACC is asking Congress for help with NIL, I believe we must have transparency regarding each body’s policies and how they navigate online betting,” he wrote.
That same day, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY), and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) asked sports betting platforms to provide additional information about their VIP programs. After receiving a response from FanDuel, the lawmakers accused the sportsbook of providing “misleading and incomplete” information.
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Fighting student-athlete abuse
The NCAA recently joined the Bad Actor Program, an initiative targeting online abuse and harassment directed at student-athletes. The initiative brings together the NCAA, Integrity Compliance 360, and Signify Group to monitor social media and identify individuals who harass student-athletes, coaches, officials, and team personnel.
Fanatics was announced as the program’s first sportsbook partner in June. Sports betting company DraftKings and prediction platforms Kalshi and Novig have also joined.
