NCAA Pushes Congress to Rein In College Sports Prediction Markets

On Tuesday, a House subcommittee on Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development listened to testimony regarding the regulation of sports-event contracts offered by prediction markets. Although not part of the invited panel of witnesses, the NCAA did provide written testimony, cementing its stance on the sector.  

The NCAA's testimony argued that the unchecked expansion of prediction market apps tied to college sports poses serious dangers to both athletes and the fairness of competition. That position builds on comments the NCAA previously made to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where it asked regulators to pause college sports prediction offerings entirely until stronger consumer and athlete protections are established. 

Among its specific requests, the NCAA called for a minimum age requirement of 21 for anyone using these platforms and voiced particular unease about contracts built around the statistical output of individual players, sometimes called prop-style offerings. The organization also asked that governing bodies be consulted before any new college sports product goes live, and pushed for funding tied to gambling education and financial literacy efforts on campuses. 

Other demands included sharing user location data with regulators, requiring platforms to flag unusual betting patterns, keeping prediction market operators separate from the college Name, Image and Likeness space, and tightening limits on how these products can be advertised near colleges and universities. 

NCAA President has been sounding the alarm for months 

The written testimony reflects a position that NCAA President Charlie Baker has been publicly building for some time.  

In an interview recorded July 1 and aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan”, Baker said he wants to see prop bets sharply curtailed at the college level and beyond, describing how the wagering has reshaped the atmosphere around games for the worse. 

Baker told the network that anyone sitting near a bench during a major college basketball game can now hear the abuse directed at players tied to betting outcomes. A prop bet allows a gambler to wager on a specific player's statistics or an in-game event rather than the final score of a contest, and Baker said the format has become especially common within parlay bets favored by younger bettors. 

He said he began raising concerns about prop betting almost immediately after taking the NCAA job in 2023, after hearing directly from athletes about the harassment tied to these wagers.  

Baker praised professional leagues for beginning to restrict some prop offerings themselves and said his goal is to work with those leagues to eliminate the most harmful bets and substantially cut back the rest at the college level.