And now, time for a modest proposal, one that some might see as even more batshizz crazy than eating babies: America’s sportsbooks should stop taking action on NCAA events until such time as the NCAA quits being such ninnies about sports betting that it puts the entire sports betting industry at risk.
For proof of this, look no further than what’s currently happening in Iowa, where some 41 student-athletes at the University of Iowa and Iowa State allegedly placed some type of bet on sports, which is barred under NCAA rules.
And by “some type of bet,” I mean “any type” of bet, as wagering of any kind is illegal. Not just with legal sportsbooks, but also … home fantasy leagues. March Madness brackets. Super Bowl squares. Literally, everything. “NO SPORTS WAGERS OF ANY KIND” the NCAA says, with the all-caps theirs.
“If you put something at risk (such as cash, entry fee, dinner or other tangible item) on any amateur and/or professional sporting event with a chance to win something in return, you violate NCAA sports wagering rules,” the NCAA’s website outlines.
What makes this rule insane — besides the obvious insanity of disallowing purchase of a $5 Super Bowl square by athletes — is the following: According to the NCAA’s own accounting, one in four male college athletes admit to betting on sports in some fashion (based on a 2016 study, pre-PASPA), and one in 20 female athletes did the same.
Again, to be clear: Nearly 25% of male collegiate athletes bet on sports last year.
Now, to me, whenever there is a rule that is being broken routinely, it would indicate the people breaking the rule aren’t the problem: The problem is with the rule.
And in this case, that’s the case. Punishing student-athletes for placing legal wagers — or for being in a fantasy league — is some real Prohibition-level stuff.
And it’s just asking for trouble for the industry.
You know why? Because while those of us on the inside realize this is ridiculous, those on the outside are seeing what’s happening in Iowa as a “scandal.”
wait there's more Iowa State acknowledges 15 of its athletes across three sports (fb, wrestling and track and field) suspected of violating gambling rules. what did NCAA think was going to happen when 33 states legalized sports betting markets in past 5 years.
— Dick Weiss (@HoopsWeiss) May 9, 2023
Legalized sports betting leads directly to this. Like we couldn't see this coming. https://t.co/n8trBVygQg
— Randy Richardson (@RandyOnEd) May 8, 2023
Don’t believe me? Google it. Look at the headlines.
Let’s also look up the dictionary definition of “scandal” while we’re here. From Cambridge: “an action or event that causes a public feeling of shock and strong moral disapproval.”
Yeah, I’d say this doesn’t qualify, but … well, it’s being treated as such. And why? Because of the dopey NCAA rules that are being broken on — almost certainly — every team at every university, if the NCAA’s own numbers are to be believed.
And let me ask you this: How many politicians right now are sharpening their fangs because of this Iowa “scandal?” I don’t even want to guess at the over/under.
Now THAT’s a scandal
If you really want to talk about a legitimate collegiate scandal, let’s head to Alabama. Now that’s a scandal, where head coach (why aren’t they called managers?) Brian Bohannon was fired for his alleged phone calls with a bettor in Ohio, a bettor who then proceeded to place big wagers on Alabama’s game against LSU on April 28. Notable here: Alabama’s ace starting pitcher, Luke Holman, was scratched right before gametime.
This raises an obvious question: Why isn’t there injury reporting in college sports? If there were, this scandal might’ve been avoided.
A live look at me every Saturday morning frantically researching my CFF lineup to make sure everyone is good to go. We really need an injury report system in NCAA pic.twitter.com/4E3cmguvll
— Nate Marchese (@CFFNate) October 5, 2019
“Million-dollar question,” said John Holden, a sports law professor at Oklahoma State University. “Easy fix, but I think college coaches argue it puts them at a competitive disadvantage. The reality is the integrity of both the games and betting market would benefit from this. The NFL learned that they could put a huge damper on the market for inside information by releasing injury reports decades ago.
“Why hasn’t college sports picked up on it, is beyond me. It’s so simple. Everyone should release injury information at regular intervals in the lead-up to games.”
I mean, duh. If injury reporting were in place, everyone who cared about betting the Alabama game would have known Holman was banged up. Instead, it was privileged information. And when there’s privileged information, the risk of shenanigans goes up exponentially.
I teach at an NCAA D-1 school, and I’ve had basketball players in my class walk in all taped up and limping and moving slow. These players would undoubtedly be listed as “questionable” if there were injury reporting. But they’re not. How much money is that kid limping into my 4:30 COM-105 class worth? Could be a ton. There’s no good reason why I should be the only one who knows.
Of course, demands for injury reporting at the NCAA level go back further than this column. But the Alabama case should be exhibit 1-A for the NCAA chieftains. They don’t want a big sports betting scandal any more than the industry does, and keeping injuries secret is like putting a bomb in a room with MacGruber. It’s going to go off.
Different issues, same result
Now, these two issues aren’t necessarily related — one has to do with information, the other has to do with in-house rules.
But taken together, they both present problems for the sportsbook industry at-large.
The lack of injury reporting allows the possibility of a major honest-to-goodness scandal erupting, and the prohibition against betting a buck on the World Series opens up literally every D-1 program — yes, literally — to the potential of an equally loud, if not equally important, “scandal.”
And these scandals aren’t going to hurt the NCAA. They are going to hurt the sports betting industry, where politicians who don’t know a total from a teaser will be falling all over themselves to demand action, oversight, or who knows what.
Compounding all this? The NCAA, at least publicly, claims to not want any part of this whole sports betting thing. Unlike the professional sports industry that all of a sudden loves the idea of sports betting after spending decades shooing it away, the NCAA is still miserable about it.
From its sports wagering page: “Sports wagering has the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardizes the well-being of student-athletes and the intercollegiate athletics community. It also demeans the competition and competitors alike by spreading a message that is contrary to the purpose and meaning of ‘sport.’ Sports competition should be appreciated for the inherent benefits related to participation of student-athletes, coaches and institutions in fair contests, not the amount of money wagered on the outcome of the competition.”
Cry me a river, NCAA. I wonder how much interest there would be in some random Tuesday night college hoops game — never mind some nonsense bowl game between two lousy teams — if sports betting wasn’t a thing.
Liquor industry self-policed
You know what I found out the other day? Three years after Prohibition, liquor company executives got together and decided it would be better for the long-term health of their industry if they avoided advertising hard liquor on radio, and, later, on TV. They self-policed, sensing the nation — and, more precisely and importantly, the nation’s politicians — didn’t want to deal with it. It took them until 1996 to back off their plan.
Well, is it possible we have very quickly reached a similar stage with the NCAA? They claim to not want sports betting, the lack of injury reporting puts the whole sports betting industry at risk of a legitimate scandal, and their truly idiotic rule about student-athletes betting on anything will only lead to more trouble.
Now I don’t think for one second the sportsbook industry is going to voluntarily pull college sports off the menu, and nor do I really think they should. Again, a 17th century satire about selling babies for food triggered this thought experiment — but think of the message it would send to all those hair-trigger politicians just itching to “do something.” It would neuter them pretty quick.
And despite their protestations to the contrary about how they don’t want to be associated with betting, I’d wager the NCAA would come to its senses and make the very obvious changes that need to be made if all of a sudden America’s sportsbooks turned their backs on college sports.
