Sports Betting Reforms Laws & Regulations

College Sports Boss Keen to See Sports Betting Reforms

By Lisa Spencer Senior Editor Updated: 25 November 2023

Lisa Spencer Senior Editor

As a Senior Editor at Betting.US, Lisa Spencer is a valuable member of our expert team. With a Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics, Lisa is adept in gambling theory and analyzing odds. She contributes by writing online sportsbook reviews and finding competitive markets to help our readers make an informed choice.

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According to recent reports, NCAA President Charlie Baker has been highlighting the positive effects of sports betting on college athletics, particularly in terms of the increasing interest in less popular sports compared to football and basketball. However, he has also stressed the need for changes to better protect college athletes.

Before becoming NCAA President, Baker served as the governor of Massachusetts for two terms. During his tenure, he legalized sports betting in the state, which was a huge boon for sports fans across the state.

His approach to sports betting when it comes to college sports is different from his predecessor, Mark Emmert, who was against betting even after the Supreme Court allowed states to make their own sports betting laws in May 2018.

Concerns Over Prop Betting

Recently, Baker acknowledged that sports betting had helped the NCAA and college sports departments financially. However, he expressed concern about specific types of bets, called player proposition bets or prop betting.

These bets focus on how a particular player will perform, such as whether a player will miss their first two free throws. Baker said he feared these bets could lead to unethical behavior, where players might be asked to perform badly on purpose.

In an interview, Baker gave an example of a possible situation where a player could be influenced by someone trying to make money through betting. This is why he is concerned about player props, as they could be used to harm the fairness of college sports.

Referring to the situation, he said that basically, the influencing person was saying:

What I’d really appreciate is if you could just miss your first couple of free throws this week — it won’t affect the outcome of the game, but it would really help me.

Not all states that allow sports betting let people bet on college player performances. Only a selection of states, namely Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Wyoming, along with Washington DC, permit these kinds of bets.

Changes Needed to Protect Players

Baker is now focusing on making changes to protect players. He is working with sports betting companies and lawmakers to discuss new rules. One of his main goals is to make sure that players are not pressured by people looking to fix games for their own profit.

According to Baker, it’s also hard to keep an eye on player prop bets for cheating. This is because even a small bet can lead to a big win. With so many college basketball games taking place, watching all these bets is a huge task.

To help solve this problem, Baker suggested creating a list of people who are not allowed to bet because they have a history of bothering players or team officials.

This “prohibited bettors list” would be used by lawmakers and people in charge of legal sports betting to keep these individuals from betting. Baker is keen to make sure that while the NCAA benefits from sports betting, players are not put at risk.