A Professor’s Take: Let College Athletes Bet Legally On Pro Sports

Nearly six months ago, the NCAA began building toward a vote on allowing new guidelines permitting student-athletes and members of athletic staffs to wager on professional sports. The change was approved in October by the NCAA’s Division I, II, and III boards of directors and appeared set to go into effect in November.

But by Nov. 22, at least two-thirds of Division I schools had submitted paperwork to roll back the rule change, leaving the previous rules — barring student-athletes and staffers from any sports gambling — in place.

From my vantage point, the proposed new guidelines appeared a proactive move. The move was out of character for an organization not known for keeping up with modern trends, but a sensible approach addressing the growing demand for sports betting. I saw it as beneficial to student-athletes, colleges, professional leagues, legal bookmakers, and bettors.

I therefore view it as a fumble by the NCAA to rescind that rule and forgo the opportunity to help manage the sports betting conundrums all leagues are facing.

Perhaps this backpedaling came as a result of media and public backlash, but whatever the reason, chalk up another botched policy by the NCAA — the same group dealing with a miserable losing streak in antitrust cases.

I come at this from the perspective of a professor of sports media with a research specialty of tracking the betting patterns of college students, and I can assure you that wagering on sports — yes, including by college athletes — is rampant across the country.

A policy change allowing this population to join the sports betting momentum surrounding them is needed.

Everyone else is doing it …

College athletes see all the advertisements and signage at arenas promoting legal books. They are also in the same classes and dining halls where their fellow students are discussing their parlays and wagers on upcoming games.

I’m sorry to contradict what Big Brother (the NCAA) wants the public to believe, but some student-athletes are doing it themselves.

Players and athletic staff members see those around them in a position to profit from sports betting, so it’s only going to create resentment and the potential for more negative issues with the NCAA handcuffing them from doing likewise. The policies to this point certainly have not prevented scandals that can be detrimental to the schools, players, legal bookmakers, media networks that broadcast games, and individual bettors.

It’s also very hypocritical. How can the NCAA perpetuate its forbidden fruit policy at a time when messages hawking pineapples and oranges are omnipresent?

NEWS: The NCAA announces that 2/3 of Division I voted to RESCIND a previously approved rule change that would have allowed student-athletes and athletics department staff members to legally participate in sports betting on professional sports only.No betting on pro sports.

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) November 21, 2025

Some of those players involved with college basketball’s recent point-shaving and inside-information incidents stated that one of their justifications was a desire to also take part in the money-making activities around them.

The NCAA can’t quell those urges just by tacking up posters in locker rooms stating the prohibition of gambling for players. After all, most players walk by them while scrolling through social media and seeing all the sponsored posts by DraftKings featuring its talent ambassador LeBron James.

That is why I feel allowing those of age to openly wager on professional sports will be a good step toward formulating policies that reflect the realities of a post-PASPA world.

Of course there would not be any acceptable rationale to allow student-athletes to legally wager on games they are involved with in the college ranks.

But betting on pro sports is different, and I support it because I see what is happening on campuses around the country. There is a culture of socially accepted betting on just about every campus. Those sitting in their offices at NCAA headquarters are either insulated from it or have chosen the head-in-the-sand approach.

The underage issue

Before anyone responds by pointing out that not all college students are of legal age to bet, they should realize wagering in a proxy manner is just about as common on college campuses as fake IDs.

I should also spell out that in this new era of eligibility, plenty of college athletes are already 21 or older. Those who skewed toward the older ages in college used to be called “super seniors,” but now every other power forward in the Big 12 is 21-plus.

Here is what I often tell my students interested in sports betting: “Because you can doesn’t mean you need to.”

The same holds true for college athletes and betting on pro sports.

Nobody wants to create a policy that incentivizes sports betting.

But what the NCAA originally proposed would have had positive ramifications such as bolstering the integrity process.

A number of these players and staff members have connections to those in the pro ranks, so steering any wagering they do toward the legal market would help create more digital trails to monitor any irregularities.

Any move to generate greater transparency will strengthen the investments made by all stakeholders involved with sports betting. Failing to understand the value of transparency at a time when sports wagering is happening so often in a college setting will go down as another of the NCAA’s failures.

So close, and yet so far

The NCAA capitulating on its original idea is akin to a parent about to have that big speech with their child only to stutter through a nonsensical conversation that ends abruptly without addressing the root issue.

Not that long ago, I interviewed a well-known college basketball coach (anonymously) on this subject. He reported that all of his fellow coaches were well aware of the influences from the betting culture on players. In fact, he said he goes to sleep every night hoping one of his players doesn’t do something foolish regarding sports betting that will tarnish his program.

He saw it as an obvious problem that, beyond the obligatory preseason talk to avoid sports betting, his school (and others) didn’t offer any other guidance. It is treated as a subject too taboo to even broach.

Allowing student-athletes to wager on pro games can also provide the valuable commodity of external assistance when needed — which is exactly what the legal books championed in the run-up to legalization. While all those other students can freely discuss sports betting and call upon the responsible gambling resources, college athletes are essentially being isolated from those same safety nets.

All college-aged people today — yes even those wearing uniforms — need a proper understanding of how bookmakers operate, of odds, of bankroll management, and of how rarely those “fun” little single-game parlays actually win. A large part of that knowledge comes from the frank discussions that accompany sports wagers being made in an open and legal setting.

Somewhere, an underground bookie is applauding the NCAA’s latest move.