NCAA president Charlie Baker wants a ban on prop bets in college sports, he said in a statement released Wednesday.
“The NCAA is drawing the line on sports betting to protect student-athletes and to protect the integrity of the game – issues across the country these last several days show there is more work to be done,” Baker said.
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Prop bets allow fans to bet on how many points or rebounds a basketball player might have, or yards or touchdowns a football player might have, instead of or in conjunction with a game’s outcome or spread.
Fans can bet on the outcomes of games but in many of the 38 states where sports betting is legal, prop bets are not allowed in college sports.
Baker wants that reach extended to all states.
“This week we will be contacting officials across the country in states that allow these bets and ask them to join Ohio, Vermont, Maryland and many others and remove college prop bets from all betting markets,” Baker said.
Some players have been subject to individualized harassment if their play resulted in a prop bet going against bettors, regardless of the outcome of the game. Baker has previously explored legislation that would create a “prohibited bettors list” of people who were known to harass players and coaches.
Baker, who played basketball at Harvard, has opposed prop bets in college sports since taking over as president last March.
“I think prop betting in some respects is one of the parts I worry about the most,” Baker told CBS News in November.
On Monday, the NBA also announced that Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter was under investigation by the league for betting irregularities surrounding prop bets that involved Porter. In two separate games, he left the game early with injuries, allowing bettors to cash in on multiple prop bets that made them the most profitable for bettors on that day, according to a media release from DraftKings.
Loyola Maryland coach Tavaras Hardy resigned earlier this month after Loyola said it had removed a person from the program after it became aware of a gambling violation. The Associated Press reported that Hardy was not the person removed from the program for the gambling violation.
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U.S. Integrity, a gambling watchdog group employed by many sports leagues and teams, also flagged unusual betting patterns surrounding a pair of Temple University basketball games earlier this year. That group flagged the activity surrounding Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon last year when Bohannon was fired for giving an associate inside information on his lineup that he used to attempt to place bets on Alabama baseball.
Required reading
- NCAA considering lessening sports gambling penalties for athletes
- College sports gambling scandals: A brief history from the Brooklyn Five to Brad Bohannon
(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
