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Faced with the possibility of legal blowback from state lawmakers, it’s the sportsbooks, not the universities, who are the adults in the room.
If you’re of a certain age, this commercial immediately transports you straight to Memory Lane.
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As recently as 2017, the NCAA urged the public not to bet on its games.
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It’s a different world. Nearing the 5-year mark of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision, 33 states plus the District of Columbia now have legalized gambling. And a number of universities have gotten in on the action.
In 2020, the University of Colorado signed a deal with PointsBet that gave CU a $30 kickback any time a new customer used the university’s referral code. Similar deals are in place at Maryland, Michigan State, and the University of Denver.
LSU sent an email to students encouraging them to place a bet with the athletics department’s new sportsbook partner. The legal gambling age in Louisiana is 21. Imagine LSU sending an email blast to students: “Hey Tiger freshmen, stressed out by your first round of exams? Unwind by popping open a cold, refreshing can of Bud Light — the official light beer partner of LSU Athletics.”
LSU actually did that! And gambling may actually be even more addicting and potentially destructive than alcohol!
The NCAA may officially warn you not to bet on it, but plenty of member institutions that comprise the NCAA would love it if you actually did go ahead and bet on it, so long as they got a cut of the action.
Suffice to say, we’ve come a long way in a short amount of time. So much so that the gambling industry itself — not colleges — are tapping the breaks.
From the Associated Press:
The U.S. gambling industry is adopting a new responsible marketing code that will ban sports books from partnering with colleges to promote sports wagering, bar payments to college and amateur athletes for using their name, image or likeness, and end the use of the terms “free” or “risk-free” to describe promotional bets.
The new rules also require any person appearing in a gambling add to be at least 21 years old, and for any advertising to be placed on media “where at least 73.6 percent of the audience is reasonably expected to be 21 or older.”
To be clear, the American Gaming Association (the national trade association for the betting industry) is making these changes for its own benefit, not colleges’. Numerous states are well on their way to outlawing the type of advertising that the AGA just voluntarily banned.
“It’s always been our No. 1 interest in creating a high bar for responsible advertising and protecting consumers,” AGA president and CEO Bill Miller told the AP.
It’s just… wild? sad? hilarious? dumbfounding? all of the above?… that the adults in the room here are the sportsbooks, not the universities.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.