In 1996, Bylaw 10.3 was amended to include a student-athlete prohibition against wagering on professional athletics. The bylaw also prohibits participating in any gambling activity that involves intercollegiate athletics or professional athletics through a bookmaker, a parlay card or any other method employed by organized gambling.

The national office has received inquiries about how the gambling ban applies. The ban applies to sports:

Under those guidelines, for example, a student-athlete could bet on a horse race but not on an ice hockey game.

"If it's an NCAA sport, you can't wager on it at the collegiate or professional level," said William S. Saum, NCAA agent and gambling representative.

Emerging sports -- all of which are women's sports -- are ice hockey, team handball, water polo, synchronized swimming, archery, badminton, bowling and squash.

As problems involving sports wagering have surfaced nationwide, the NCAA has focused more attention on sports wagering on college campuses, both from educational and enforcement perspectives.

In June, NCAA Executive Director Cedric W. Dempsey sent to commissioners of all NCAA member conferences a videotape entitled "Gambling with Your Life" and instructions on making a sports-wagering presentation to member schools using the video.

"As you may be aware, illegal sports wagering continues to grow and is believed to exist in one form or another on each member institution's campus," Dempsey said. "A student-athlete, coach or athletics administrator who finds himself or herself indebted, addicted or compromised by having placed an illegal wager with a bookie is vulnerable for exploitation in an effort to control or influence the outcome of an athletics contest."

Dempsey noted that the growth of sports wagering has caused an increase in the number of gambling-related cases processed by the NCAA enforcement and eligibility appeals staffs in all three NCAA divisions.

"Sports wagering has the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardizes the personal safety and integrity of student-athletes and athletics department staff members alike," he said.

The video was developed by the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball in 1996 and is on loan to the NCAA.

A recent study sponsored by the NCAA and conducted by researchers at the University of Cincinnati showed that 25 percent of the student-athletes in men's basketball and football who responded to the study admitted gambling on other college sporting events. Almost four percent said they had gambled money on a game in which they participated. Three athletes said they had received money from a gambler for not playing well in a game, essentially affecting its outcome.

As part of the NCAA's increased effort against sports wagering, Saum last year was appointed agent and gambling representative on the national office staff. Saum frequently speaks to conferences and conventions about the NCAA's position on gambling.

The NCAA is attempting to educate student-athletes, coaches and administrators about student bookies and the ways in which they entice athletes to get involved in gambling activities, Saum said. He said athletes are naive about the risk to their safety and integrity and about the unsavory individuals associated with gambling.

As part of the education effort, the NCAA has developed an informational poster -- "Don't Bet On It" (see page 1) -- that will be distributed in August to NCAA member institutions. Each member institution will receive five copies of the poster for display in athletics departments and facilities as well as for use in athletics programs and other publications, Saum said. Any institution wanting additional posters can contact the national office.

The NCAA Administrative Committee approved a statement in March that describes the Association's position on gambling. The position statement may be reproduced for game programs and similar uses.

While the NCAA prohibition against sports wagering has been on the books for some time, a concerted effort to enforce it can be traced back to June 1995 when the NCAA Eligibility Committee issued a directive to NCAA staff to impose more stringent conditions for restoration of eligibility for student-athletes in cases involving gambling.

During its April 18-20 meeting, the NCAA Committee on Infractions agreed it would be appropriate to impose penalties on athletics department staff members at least as stringent as those imposed on student-athletes who violate Bylaw 10.3. Staff members could be suspended from athletically related duties in the same manner that student-athletes are suspended from competing.

NCAA Bylaws 19.6.1-(g) and 19.6.2.1-(d) provide authority for the committee to affect an athletics department staff member's athletically related duties for involvement in secondary and major infractions, respectively.

The Committee on Infractions also found it appropriate to impose penalties related to violations of Bylaw 10.3 as show-cause actions that would cause the action to become part of the individual's record -- for secondary violations, only for the duration of the period of the penalty -- with the rationale that gambling activities impact the integrity of the contest and, at a minimum, are perceived to be related to organized crime.

A litmus test as to whether an activity violates the rules is whether it costs to participate in the wager. Participation in statistical fantasy football or baseball leagues or in a basketball tournament pool are violations if there is a cost to participate, he said.

When student-athletes return to campuses this fall, they will again be required to sign the student-athlete statement before they can participate in athletics. Athletics department staffs are being encouraged to make an effort to have their athletes understand the section of the statement concerning gambling, Saum said.

NCAA positionIn March, the NCAA Administrative Committee approved the following statement describing the Association's position on gambling:

"The NCAA opposes all forms of legal and illegal sports wagering. Sports wagering has the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardizes the welfare of student-athletes and the intercollegiate athletics community. Sports wagering demeans the competition and competitors alike by a message that is contrary to the purposes and meaning of 'sport.'

"Sports competition should be appreciated for the inherent benefits related to participation of student-athletes, coaches and institutions in fair contests, not the amount of money wagered on the outcome of the competition.

"For these reasons, the NCAA membership has adopted specific rules prohibiting athletics department staff members and student-athletes from engaging in gambling activities as they relate to intercollegiate or professional sporting events."