One pretty standard gambling regulation that most people seem to agree on is that college athletes and staff should not be allowed to gamble, neither on their sport or any other. The idea is that a football player who goes underwater with a bookie while wagering on basketball is a player who may be called on to influence the outcome of his own game to get back above water. This concept has recently come under fire from the most unlikely of sources, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
During a recent meeting of the NCAA’s Division I Council, a proposal was made to drop that golden rule and allow players and staff to wager on college and professional sports. Council Chair Josh Whitman explained his reasoning for the proposal in an online statement suggesting the no-betting rule was antiquated and reflected a time when sports betting was banned nationally. “As betting on sports has become more widely accepted across the country, Division I members have determined that further discussion of these sports betting rules is warranted, particularly as it relates to the potential distinctions between betting on professional versus collegiate sports,” he said.
The idea is not as far-fetched as it sounds, as Dr. Deena Casiero explained to SBC Americas saying, “Deregulating professional sports betting may provide schools an additional opportunity to implement harm-reduction strategies, which can be more effective and have long-term benefits not seen with abstinence-only approaches. Harm-reduction strategies include education, stigma reduction and acknowledging actual behaviors.”
The Council will vote on the proposal in October.