The head of the NCAA on Tuesday urged Congress to pass a ban on player-specific prop bets in college athletics, saying it would help protect student-athletes from harassment and the pressure of fixing games.
NCAA President Charlie Baker testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that a federal prohibition against bets on individual athletes would help address some of the challenges facing student-athletes — including death threats from angry bettors — now that sports gambling is so prevalent.
“We believe that when betters can’t gamble on college athletes’ individual performances, they are far less likely to attempt to scrutinize, coerce or harass student-athletes,” Mr. Baker said. “I think one of the most fundamental opportunities we have to take at least some of the pressure off some of these young people is to take these prop bets out of the system.”
Of the soon-to-be 39 states that have legalized sports betting, 20 allow college prop bets, he said.
College athletes suffer a barrage of online hate from bettors.
In his testimony, Mr. Baker cited the story of North Carolina men’s basketball player Armando Bacot, who received over 100 direct messages over social media from people furious at him because he “didn’t get enough rebounds.”
In a podcast, Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne said that disgruntled betters wanted money from him via Venmo after losing money betting on his performance on the field. But they do not reach out to send him money when his play makes people money, he said.
“It is an enormous problem for them, and it creates an incredible amount of harassment, social pressure and abuse. Period,” Mr. Baker said.
The hearing was part of Washington’s increased focus on regulating sports gambling.
The industry has exploded since the Supreme Court in 2018 ruled that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which effectively outlawed gambling in most states aside from Nevada, was unconstitutional.
The ruling opened the door for a proliferation of gambling across the U.S. that has seen professional sports leagues and television networks carve out lucrative deals with gambling companies.
Last year, Americans wagered close to $120 billion on sports, including $23 billion on Superbowl LVIII.
“It is virtually impossible to watch a sporting event today without being barraged by ads encouraging you to bet or hearing from a celebrity endorser about the latest parlay you should try and from the industry perspective, it is a very profitable development,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said, at the start of the hearing.
According to the nonpartisan National Council on Problem Gambling, there are 2.5 million Americans with severe gambling problems and upwards of 8 million more people with mild or moderate problems. Roughly 1 in 5 people who suffer from gambling addiction will attempt suicide.
The rapid rise of sports gambling and the various ways that companies connect with consumers through television ads and apps and by leveraging artificial intelligence fuel concerns and calls for Washington to establish more federal guardrails.
Harry Levant, a recovering gambling addict who leads the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law, told lawmakers that “sports have become the equivalent of a nonstop slot machine.”
“We are presently witnessing the early years of a fast-moving public health crisis and the time is now for Congress to act,” he said.
He likened the addictive effects of gambling to heroin, alcohol and cocaine.
“With every other addictive product, the government regulates the advertising, promotion, distribution, and consumption,” he said. “Sadly, with gambling, the exact opposite is occurring.”
John Bademosi, a former NFL football player representing the National Football League Players Association, said that Congress should consider barring “negative bets” on such things as player injuries and penalties and prohibit the purchase of player biometric data for gambling purposes.
“Taken together, recommendations such as these would go a long way toward ensuring athlete safety, maintaining the integrity of games, and promoting responsible sports betting among fans,” he said.
David Rebuck, an advisor to the gaming industry and former director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, said the federal government should recognize that states are best positioned to establish their state standards and regulations.
“A one-size-fits-all federal regulatory framework would lack the agility states currently have to adapt to the diverse circumstances of their individual markets and would risk imposing unnecessary burdens on both regulators and operators,” he said in written testimony.
Meanwhile, Joe Maloney, senior vice president of the American Gaming Institute, criticized the committee for not inviting an industry witness.
“This unfortunate exclusion leaves the committee and the overall proceeding bereft of testimony on how legal gaming protects consumers from the predatory illegal market and its leadership in promoting responsible gaming and safeguarding integrity,” Mr. Maloney said in a statement. “We remain committed to robust state regulatory frameworks that protect consumers, promote responsibility, and preserve integrity of athletic competition.”
Some lawmakers in Washington have been calling for more federal regulations.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal introduced “the Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet or SAFE Bet Act this year to establish nationwide consumer protections and standards for the mobile sports gambling industry.
The legislation would bar sportsbooks from advertising during games, set limits on how many times a customer could deposit money into a sports betting account in 24 hours and bar the use of AI to track player’s gambling habits.
Mr. Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat, is also pushing a Gambling addiction Recovery, Investment and Treatment Act — the GRIT ACT. The bill would create the first-ever federal funding source in the form of a federal sports wagering excise tax. The tax revenue would be dedicated to studying and addressing gambling addiction.
