Plans in place

The NCAA plans to push state legislatures to alter laws in order to better protect student-athletes from betting-related pressures, specifically coercion or harassment from sports bettors. The organization wants to make sure that the integrity of its competitions is kept intact and that state laws properly address the fallout of problem gambling.

not all of them have integrity provisions and proper protection policies

It noted that while 38 states passed various sports betting legalization laws over the last five years, not all of them have integrity provisions and proper protection policies in place. The NCAA has formulated certain legislative proposals after surveying student-athletes, reviewing regulations and laws across the country, and speaking with industry stakeholders.

A major sector

NCAA President Charlie Baker noted the “explosive growth” of the legal sports betting sector and said that the NCAA is eager to work alongside industry leaders, regulators, and lawmakers to put proper protections in place. He emphasized that some states already do a great job of this, while others need to do more.

inconsistency leaves student-athletes vulnerable and makes it an uneven playing field

It’s not just in states that already have legalized sports betting that the NCAA will work with. It also aims to include these provisions in any relevant pending legislation. All of the proposals are in place in at least a single US state, but the inconsistency leaves student-athletes vulnerable and makes it an uneven playing field according to the college sports organization.

Some key proposals

One of the big proposals from the NCAA is for gambling regulators to have reporting hotlines that allow people involved in college sports to report any coercion or harassment to law enforcement.

The NCAA wants to have stricter penalties for any bettors who engage in the harassment of athletes and for all sports betting-related ads to display relevant information about problem gambling and support helplines. Another proposal is to have some of the revenue from sports betting go toward educating college students.

Speaking about the importance of these measures, Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Vice Chair Morgan Wynne said: “….it is imperative that we take a proactive approach to protecting student-athletes from the potential of negative engagement with bettors.”