NCAA Wants to End Prop Betting on College Sports. Will It Succeed?

With more and more nefarious stories around sports betting emerging seemingly every day, the NCAA wants to ban prop bets on college sports nationwide.

Already, college prop bets are not allowed in every state, but on Wednesday, NCAA president Charlie Baker in a statement said that they “threaten the integrity of competition” and are “leading to student-athletes and professional athletes getting harassed.” The NCAA will be contacting officials in states where college prop betting is in place to push for the removal of said wagers across all markets.

It’s likely no coincidence that the NCAA’s announcement comes just days after the NBA began investigating Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter due to multiple instances of irregularities surrounding the prop bets on the player recently. “Issues across the country these last several days show there is more work to be done,” Baker’s statement added. Earlier this month, gambling watchdog company U.S. Integrity alerted casinos about unusual wagering surrounding a Temple-UAB men’s basketball game. And, of course, there’s the ongoing Shohei Ohtani sports betting scandal.

Now What Happens?

The head of the NCAA calling for a ban on prop bets is certainly a big deal. But will it be taken seriously? For years, NCAA executives and college administrators have been pleading for federal legislation to better govern name, image, and likeness rules in college sports. But nearly three years into the emergence of NIL, progress on any nationwide laws has been minimal.

States with major Division I programs like Ohio and Maryland don’t allow prop bets on any college sports, while others like New Jersey and Illinois don’t allow prop bets on schools within those states. However, large markets like Michigan and the recently launched North Carolina have no such restrictions. Prop betting continues to gain popularity, too, so it’s fair to wonder whether state gaming officials across the country would be willing to give up potential revenue from taxes on that growing market.