TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – While March Madness brings a surge in sports betting, the head of the NCAA is calling for more regulation for betting on college athletics to protect student-athletes from threats.
“People have always been jerks to athletes. Before sports betting, it was people that were betting through the local bookie who were having somebody you know, taking a crowbar in their shin,” said lead writer for BetArizona Christopher Boan.
NCAA President Charlie Baker wants to ban states from allowing prop bets on student-athletes. This involves betting on an athlete to score a certain number of points or get a certain number of rebounds.
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Gambling experts said they have seen the amount of action on college prop bets increase over the past few years which has also increased the number of threats made against student-athletes.
“It really caught folks like myself by surprise, the sheer number of mental health impacts that gambling has on athletes. Whether they’d be targets of online comments, direct messaging, verbal threats, physical threats,” said Dr. Timothy Fong, co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program.
This can be especially prevalent for athletes still competing in March Madness like the Arizona Wildcats, who play in the Sweet 16 on Thursday. Arizona will face Clemson at 4 p.m. and the game will be on 13 News.
We asked Arizona players if they had an experience with threats or direct messages on social media but most players said they don’t focus on those messages.
“None of us are acknowledging stuff like that for sure,” said Arizona point guard Kyland Boswell.
KJ Lewis added to Boswell’s sentiment saying, “I mean we all know the rules and stuff so I haven’t (experienced it).”
However, Dr. Fong said it may take a toll on those athletes in the future.
“What does it mean that I’m no longer an athlete? I’m a commodity. I’m a stock. I’m just a number. I’m a means to make money for somebody,” Fong said.
That’s why the NCAA is pushing to ban player prop bets on college athletics, however, Arizona is ahead of the curve as legislation has already banned player props for college athletics when gambling was legalized in the states.
Despite this, many said it may not stop the threats.
“The problem will be that if you take it off of regulated gambling sites, but it still exists on unregulated gambling sites, we’re still going to have these potential problems,” Fong said.
Those problems are something Boan said is only heightened during the madness of March.
“Obviously, billions of dollars are being wagered on college basketball this month, and it is the most wagered upon event. People think it’s the Super Bowl, it’s March Madness,” he said.
While Dr. Fong said the initiative by the NCAA is a first step to protecting athletes, there’s still more to be done.
“We don’t know which types of wagers are the most dangerous, which ones are, quote, ‘safer,’ which ones damage athletes’ mental health,” Fong said, “We need definitely more study, more discussion.”
Even throughout the madness of the betting industry, athletes and coaches like Tommy Lloyd said they want the focus to remain on the game.
“I’m going to trust that the powers that be will put our game in a good position and if some of those other things are causing problems. I’m hopeful they fix them,” he said.
Fong was a part of a roundtable in Phoenix in January with the NCAA and Baker talking about the effects of sports gambling.
Fong said there is work being done to start initiatives that would include education on signs of sports gambling addictions as well as a well-being package to provide more mental health services for these athletes.
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