The intersection of gambling and college sports has been a hot topic for much of 2023. It’s gone supernova with two stories in May, including:
Alabama’s baseball coach was fired in the wake of integrity concerns.
The suspensions of Iowa and Iowa State athletes for gambling violations that we still don’t know much about.
The hot takes are flowing like lava as a result, and here’s what I think we should and shouldn’t do.
What we SHOULDN’T do about colleges and betting
Stop it with the calls for partial or full bans on betting on college sports.
That’s going to solve approximately nothing. All you are doing is sending that action back offshore, where we have no insight into what’s going on, and hindering adoption of legal sportsbooks.
The takeaway from the Alabama story should be about the process working: The regulated market caught this and a dumb coach lost his job as a result. If you really think the Alabama story is the first time in recent history that something like this has happened in college sports, I’d argue that you’re terribly naive.
Point 1b: We currently know very little about the Iowa and Iowa State story. Before we shout “LEGAL SPORTS BETTING IS BAD,” let’s hear exactly what was going on and where.
What we SHOULD do about colleges and betting
Have a better and more honest dialogue about college betting involving the NCAA, colleges and the gambling industry.
A handful of colleges signed sponsorship deals with sportsbooks and casinos in the years after the federal sports betting ban fell. That’s a crazy thing that existed while also having a “Don’t Bet On It” campaign for student-athletes and a bunch of programs meant to address gambling in athletic departments and on campuses.
Yesterday, some of those programs were highlighted in a presser saying YES WE ARE TAKING GAMBLING VERY SERIOUSLY. (I’m paraphrasing.) For years, the NCAA argued in federal court that legal sports betting would be the death of college athletics. That history dictates that the NCAA should be a more present and active leader in the conversation. If this presser is a real start to that, then great. I’d like to hear about the NCAA’s engagement on gambling, specifically on Alabama, Iowa and Iowa State campuses, for instance, before the scandals.
If the NCAA doesn’t believe regulated sports betting is bad for business, let’s also talk more about that! This quote from the NCAA yesterday is crazy to see in print, given the history (emphasis mine):
"While sports wagering creates opportunities for our fans to uniquely engage with NCAA competition in a legal and responsible manner, we have to be mindful of the enhanced risks it creates, particularly around student-athlete well-being and competition integrity," said Stan Wilcox, NCAA executive vice president of regulatory affairs.
One final note: One of the few enforcement actions related to gambling that we have seen in recent years was a Virginia Tech football player that self-reported betting a few hundred dollars on NBA games and was suspended for six games. Yes, I understand it’s the rule, but the crime does not match the punishment. I also guarantee you there are way more college athletes betting on sports than we know about, and I am also not sure I care as long as they aren’t betting on their sport or competitions involving their school. The NCAA should have a conversation about what really matters, and what doesn’t.
This is cool. I didn’t know about substack. I’m so with you on the punishment doesn’t fit crime. De Shaun Watson got less of a punishment than the gamblers. It’s a bad look when making bets on legal regulated sites is worse than sexually abusing massage therapists. NFL is in crazy town and it looks like NCAA will follow the lead.