College Athletes Can Bet on Pro Sports Starting in November

On Wednesday, the NCAA Division II and Division III Management Councils approved new rules to allow current college athletes to bet on professional sports starting on Nov. 1. (The NCAA has already said it would allow Division I athletes to do so.)

“The council emphasized in approving the rule change that the action is not an endorsement of sports betting, particularly for student-athletes,” the NCAA said in its announcement. College athletes will not be allowed to bet on NCAA sports, however. 

The news came less than 24 hours before the FBI arrested Heat guard Terry Rozier, Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, and former NBA player Damon Jones on Thursday morning as part of a federal probe involving illegal gambling. The arrests are part of a sweeping FBI investigation into both illegal sports betting activity and a system of rigged poker games. 

The timing of the NCAA rule changes and the announcement of the probe are unrelated. U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella, also said the indictments filed Thursday did not involve college basketball. 

That doesn’t mean that there haven’t been issues at the college level, however.

As part of a statement Thursday, the NCAA said it has opened investigations into “potential sports betting violations” by approximately 30 current or former men’s basketball student-athletes,” some of which have already been resolved. In September, the NCAA banned Fresno State men’s basketball players Mykell Robinson and Jalen Weaver, and San Jose State men’s basketball player Steven Vasquez. The three players “bet on their own games, one another’s games and/or provided information that enabled others to do so” last season, the NCAA said. 

Additionally, last year, the NCAA found that former Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon gave away insider information in order to win money on bets, and was banned from NCAA sports.

An FBI probe into college basketball may even be ongoing. An ESPN report  last week detailed a separate probe into illegal sports betting activity involving college basketball. 

“We are grateful for federal law enforcement’s efforts to stamp out illegal sports betting, and I am proud that the NCAA continues to have the most aggressive competition integrity policies in place,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a statement Thursday. He also noted that he has been campaigning to eliminate prop bets nationwide.