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Latest wagering study shows decrease in gambling activity

Preliminary results from the latest NCAA study of college student-athlete gambling behaviors and attitudes reflect hopeful news in overall rates of gambling within the student-athlete population but raise concerns in the ever-changing technology that influences gambling behaviors among young people.

Overall rates of gambling among male NCAA student-athletes have decreased, according to the 2012 NCAA Student-Athlete Gambling Behaviors and Attitudes study. Fifty-seven percent of males in the 2012 survey reported gambling for money within the past year, compared to 66 percent of respondents in the 2008 study. As in the general population (college-aged and otherwise), male student-athletes engage in nearly all gambling activities at much higher rates than females.

“The decrease in the rate of gambling among male student-athletes is encouraging,” said Rachel Newman Baker, NCAA managing director of enforcement. “However, the explosive growth of sports wagering has caused a noticeable increase in the number and severity of sports wagering cases investigated by the NCAA. Wagering on sports can be a serious threat to the well-being of our student-athletes and can result in the permanent ineligibility of a student-athlete.”

While the decrease is good news, not all student-athletes follow NCAA rules that prohibit  gambling on sports in which the NCAA conduct championships. In the most recent study, 26 percent of male student-athletes reported violating NCAA rules by wagering on sports for money. These rates are similar to those seen in the 2004 and 2008 surveys. About 5 percent of female student-athletes wagered on sports in 2012. While the NCAA already offers extensive educational outreach regarding the negative consequences associated with sports wagering, including loss of eligibility, the increased acceptance of gambling behaviors socially continues to pose challenges for educators.

“Above almost anything else, a typical student-athlete does not want to negatively impact his or her team,” said Newman Baker. “Considering that roughly 40 percent of males think their coaches see sports wagering as acceptable, such programmatic efforts to educate need to involve not only student-athletes, but also coaches and administrators.”

Additional findings include:

• Evidence shows that gambling and sports wagering is becoming more normative among student-athletes. In the 2012 survey, 33 percent of males and 18 percent of females who have ever gambled had their first gambling experience before entering high school. These numbers increased by 7 percent for males and 4 percent for females from the 2008 survey.
• Far fewer student-athletes consider fantasy football and other activities to be gambling. 57 percent of male student-athletes and 41 percent of females consider sports wagering acceptable provided as long as they do not bet on their own sports. Alarmingly, 59 percent of men and 49 percent of women believe there is consistent money to be made betting on sports.
• Technology continues to rapidly change how gambling and sports wagering occur.  One-third of the male student-athletes who reported wagering on sports in the 2012 survey placed bets via the Internet or a mobile device, ranging from placing bets with bookmakers to use of international gambling sites. In addition, 28 percent of male and 10 percent of female student-athletes engaged in some form of simulated gambling activity via social media sites, videogame consoles and mobile devices over the past year. These games are being increasingly marketed toward youth, and the line between gaming and gambling via social media sites is quickly disappearing in many countries.
• Outside gamblers appear to be increasingly using social media to reach student-athletes.  Since 2004, the percentage of student-athletes claiming to have been contacted by outside sources looking for inside information has steadily increased. The percentage of student-athletes reporting that they knowingly provided inside information has decreased since 2004. However, it is clear that many student-athletes unknowingly post information to social media sites that could be beneficial to outside gamblers.
• Gambling attitudes remain problematic in golf, likely due to the pervasive culture of on-course wagering in the sport. Golf student-athletes (males in particular) across all three NCAA divisions are significantly more likely to engage in virtually every gambling activity assessed compared to other student-athletes.
• While gambling behaviors may be more socially common, the 2012 study continues to show a very small percentage of student-athletes in Division I men’s basketball (about 2 percent) and football (1 percent) who report being asked to influence the outcome of a game. These percentages are essentially unchanged from the 2008 study.
• Overall, gambling behaviors continue to be attributed to males far more than females.
• The behavior appears more pervasive in Divisions II and III, where educational programming for student-athletes is not as frequent. There is also the likely perception that the rules (and potential issues of contest fairness) are solely a Division I concern.

“In addition to educating about NCAA sports-wagering rules, enhanced and innovative forms of programming need to be developed and implemented specifically for student-athletes, coaches and athletics administrators,” said Newman Baker. “To be maximally effective, this programming needs to go beyond simply telling these groups not to gamble, given the deepening normative nature of gambling and sports wagering in our society.”

The report’s co-author, Jeffrey Derevensky, the director of the International Center for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors at McGill University, advocated for programming to help all involved in college athletics to recognize risk factors associated with problem gambling, provide up-to-date information on the science and technology of gambling and sports wagering, and even promote strategies for discussing perceptions and normative expectations associated with gambling.

“It is clear from the data that any wagering educational efforts need to better leverage the influence of both coaches and teammates,” Derevensky said.

In that regard, the study shows that roughly two-thirds of student-athletes believe teammates would be aware if a team member was gambling on sports and more than one-third believe that coaches would be aware. Both groups were rated as significantly more likely to impact a student-athlete not to gamble compared to receiving materials from outside entities like the NCAA staff.

The findings are from the 2012 NCAA Study on Collegiate Wagering and Social Environments, which is administered every four years. About 23,000 current student-athletes across all three NCAA divisions were surveyed during the spring of 2012 about their attitudes toward and engagement in various gambling activities, including sports wagering. Nearly two-thirds of NCAA member schools participated in the study.