On Wednesday, a significant change was approved by the NCAA that allows athletes and athletic department staff members to bet on professional sports. This new rule, set to take effect on November 1, comes after the Division I cabinet approved it two weeks earlier, followed by the Division II and III management councils.
It is important to note that this new change does not alter the current NCAA rule that forbids student-athletes from betting on college sports. The NCAA still maintains strict policies against sharing any information regarding college competitions with bettors. Additionally, there are also restrictions on advertising and sponsorship from betting sites during NCAA championships.
The NCAA has made it clear that it does not endorse sports betting, especially for student-athletes. NCAA President Charlie Baker addressed the media at a Big East roundtable and expressed optimism about the approval of this change, stating, “This change recognizes the realities of today’s sports environment without compromising our commitment to protecting the integrity of college competition or the well-being of student-athletes.”
Roberta Page, the director of athletics at Slippery Rock and chair of the Division II Management Council, echoed these sentiments regarding the importance of the new rule.
One of the motivations behind this change is the rise in NCAA enforcement cases related to sports betting violations in recent years. Recently, the NCAA imposed bans on three men’s college basketball players who placed bets on their own games, highlighting the troubling issue. Baker mentioned, “We run the largest integrity program in the world on sports betting across all the various games,” adding that it is unfortunate that some student-athletes are involved in such activities.
This updated stance by the NCAA underscores a significant shift in how collegiate athletics interacts with the broader world of sports, reflecting changing times and attitudes towards betting on sports.
