NCAA Urges States to Cut Prop Bets on College Sports

The NCAA has once again pushed for tighter restrictions on betting markets associated with college sports, this time targeting state gambling regulators. It concerns the use of prop bets following a gambling scandal on Jan. 15, in which 15 former NCAA athletes were accused of fixing their performances for sportsbook bets. 

In a statement issued on Thursday, the President of the NCAA, Charlie Baker, urged regulators to ban individual prop bets and similar markets, such as first-half unders, at the best sports betting sites. The NCAA believes those markets are vulnerable to manipulation and abuse. Baker said that while the NCAA has an integrity monitoring program, regulatory gaps continue to expose athletes and competitions to undue risk.

“The Association has and will continue to aggressively pursue sports betting violations in college athletics using a layered integrity monitoring program that covers over 22,000 contests, but we still need the remaining states and regulators to eliminate threats to integrity to better protect athletes and leagues from integrity risks and predatory bettors,” he commented in a statement on Thursday. 

The NCAA also sent a formal letter to state gambling commissions, repeating its requests first made in 2023. As well as a prop betting ban, the association is seeking stronger accountability measures for bettors who harass student-athletes or try to influence betting outcomes. 

The letter frames these changes as part of a broader effort to build a stronger framework to protect athletes in an increasingly complex sports betting market.

NCAA asks for suspension of college prediction markets

The NCAA’s renewed focus on state-level regulations runs parallel to its pressure on federal regulators to intervene in the growing prediction market apps sector. 

On Wednesday, Charlie Baker wrote to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) requesting the suspension of college sports prediction markets until safeguards are added. 

In the letter, he argued that prediction markets pose risks to student-athletes and competition integrity, citing the sudden growth of these sites that allow users to trade contracts on sports events.

He outlined several areas where he believes stronger protection is needed, including age and advertising restrictions, enhanced integrity monitoring, harm-reduction tools, and anti-harassment measures. While he acknowledged that some operators use third-party monitoring firms, he said that prediction markets in general lack the reporting and integrity tools that sportsbooks have. 

Prediction markets are federally regulated and available to 18-year-olds and over, while sportsbooks are state-regulated and typically require users to be 21. The legal status of prediction markets is also in dispute, with state gambling regulators and major sports leagues, including the NFL, fighting multiple legal battles over whether event contracts are a form of sports betting.