On Thursday, NCAA president Charlie Baker issued the following statement regarding recently-announced sports betting indictments. The NCAA runs one of the largest integrity monitoring programs in the world and is the only major sports league to call for the elimination of individual participation prop bets because of the integrity risks those bets pose.
"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. The Association has and will continue to pursue sports betting violations using a layered integrity monitoring program for over 22,000 contests, but we still need more states, regulators and gaming companies to help in this effort by eliminating risky prop bets to reduce opportunities for manipulation."
- The NCAA is the only major sports league in the U.S. to prohibit any commercial partnerships with sports books.
- The enforcement staff has opened investigations into potential sports betting violations by approximately 30 current or former men's basketball student-athletes. Some of those cases have already been resolved.
- Over 150,000 student-athletes have participated in NCAA gambling education through in-person and online training sessions.
- Through the NCAA's partnership with EPIC Global Solutions, a comprehensive gambling harm and student-athlete protection education program has been made available to all NCAA campuses and conferences with a blend of delivery options including in-person education workshops and seminars, prerecorded sessions, and on-demand virtual resources.
- The Association has successfully petitioned four states to eliminate prop bets on college athletes. Click here for more information on NCAA's response to sports betting.