As sports betting becomes more widely available across the United States, fans and bettors are finding more opportunities to legally place bets in their respective states. However, this rapid growth doesn’t come without its share of problems. There is increasing worry about the effect sports betting may have on the authenticity of games and potential negative repercussions. In recent years, various scandals have surfaced, ensnaring athletes at both collegiate and professional levels in allegations of betting regulation violations. Even more troubling is the uptick in harassment towards athletes from bettors, with one in three athletes experiencing abusive messages on social media platforms.
The concerns do not bear the hallmark of unfounded panic. They have been recently validated by Mark Hicks, NCAA’s Managing Director, in a conversation with Martin Lycka, SVP of American Regulatory Affairs and Responsible Gambling at Entain. Held as part of the SBC Summit North America Player Protection Symposium, their talk revealed some unsettling data regarding the online harassment of athletes.
Hicks furnished data from NCAA’s partner, Signify, supplemented with additional sources from the period of March Madness, which startlingly showed 50,000 instances of online harassment targeted at athletes. According to his analysis, around 4,000 of these incidents were alarming enough to be reported to law enforcement agencies, social media companies, or both.
Digging deeper into these incidents, around 2,000 cases appeared to be linked with sports betting. According to Hick, while this data underlined the necessity of maintaining the integrity of sports, it also underscored the importance of further improving protection measures for athlete well-being, especially in light of the expansion of sports betting.
NCAA’s Focus Shifts Towards Athlete Welfare
The revealing statistics have emerged as several states contemplate outlawing college prop bets. Proposition bets, colloquially known as prop bets, enable bettors to wager on various elements of a sports event, aside from the final outcome.
Identifying prop bets as a potential risk to student-athletes, causing unwanted pressure and possible online abuse from gamblers, states like Louisiana and Ohio have established a prohibition on college prop bets.
Despite NCAA’s president, Charlie Baker, continually voicing his disapproval for these prop bets and highlighting the rising instances of athlete harassment by bettors, the implementation of such restrictions remains under evaluation in other American states.
“The philosophy guiding NCAA legislation has largely been focused on integrity. However, the intense focus has now shifted towards athlete well-being.”
Mark Hicks, Managing Director, NCAA
Hicks commented on NCAA’s history of policies largely centered around maintaining integrity, while emphasizing the Association’s need to prioritize protecting athletes. Distinguishing the NCAA from leagues such as the MLB, NBA, or NFL, Hicks stated that their Association is comprised of approximately half a million student-athletes. Despite the continued importance of upholding integrity, Hicks affirmed the NCAA’s commitment to taking steps towards safeguarding the well-being of these student-athletes.
