NCAA Schools Reverse Rule Allowing Athletes, Staff to Bet on Pro Sports

^{SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey was one of the leading voices opposing the NCAA's gambling rule change for staff and athletes, contributing to the organization's vote to reverse the rule. (Photo: John Bazemore / Alamy)}

The member schools of the NCAA have voted to rescind a rule change that would have allowed student-athletes and athletic department staffers to wager on professional sports . The reversal of the rule follows a wave of recent high-profile gambling cases that threatened the integrity of games.

The rule change had been initially approved by the NCAA Division I Administrative Committee and set to go into effect on Nov. 1 but was delayed by the NCAA Division I Board last month.

Members Rebel Against Change in Enforcement Policy

The proposal was also approved by Division II and Division III officials. However, because less than 75% of the Division I cabinet endorsed the rule, schools were able to invoke a rarely used rule that allows schools themselves to rescind the proposal within 30 days.

The rule requires a two-thirds supermajority of Division I schools to vote against the rule change. That threshold was met on Friday, just one day before the 30-day period would have expired. The decision will also apply to Division II and Division III schools.

While loosening prohibitions on betting might have seemed like an odd step to take, NCAA medical officials argued that an abstinence-only approach could be ineffective for college-aged individuals. Officials instead suggested that the organization could better prevent and investigate issues related to the integrity of its own competitions if it focused only on banning betting on collegiate athletics.

But that didn’t sit right with many college officials. In late October, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said that the members of his conference were strongly against the proposal.

“If there are legal or practical concerns about the prior policy, those should be addressed through careful refinement – not through wholesale removal of the guardrails that have long supported the integrity of games and the well-being of those who participate," Sankey wrote in a letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker.

Sankey went on to stress that the SEC universities wanted the NCAA to fully rescind the rule change to both reaffirm their commitment to the organization's standards that maintain the integrity of the game, and also keep their athletes and staff completely separated from sports betting.

Recent Gambling-Related Cases Heightened NCAA Scrutiny

Recent incidents in college sports may have convinced more schools to push back against the proposed rule change. 

On Friday, the former Temple basketball player Hysier Miller had been declared permanently ineligible after the NCAA found that he had placed 42 bets totaling $473 during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. These bets often included games being played by the Temple Owls, including three bets against his own team.

Earlier this month, the NCAA announced that six former men’s basketball players at schools including Arizona State, Mississippi Valley State, and New Orleans had allegedly participated in gambling schemes that included game manipulation or the sharing of inside information with bettors.

Even under the proposed NCAA rule change, athletes would not have allowed athletes to place bets on collegiate events. With the old rules remaining in place, however, athletes and coaches remain prohibited from betting on any sport sponsored by the NCAA — at any level.