The Big Ten Conference Student-Athlete Issues Commission (SAIC) is speaking out regarding the current status of player proposition bets in college athletics. It came in the form of a three-page letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker urging the NCAA to make significant changes to prop betting rules.
The letter reinforces the Big Ten Conference’s unwavering commitment to protecting the well-being and safety of student-athletes across all 18 campuses, and the integrity of intercollegiate athletics.
The Big 10 Conference SAIC, which has been around since 1994, takes an active role in discussing issues that are most important to student-athletes. Its executive leadership also represents Big Ten student-athletes in front of the Conference’s Joint Group Council and on the NCAA’s Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Big Ten Conference Commissioner Tony Petitti said the conference is “proud to support our student-athletes in calling for the restriction or elimination of individual proposition wagers on college athletics.
“The Big Ten Conference appreciates the NCAA’s effort to eliminate these wagers and will continue to assist student-athletes as they deal with the challenges that result from proposition bets in college sports,” Petitti said.
It’s no secret that prop betting exposes student-athletes to increased and aggravated social media pressure and harassment. The three-page letter mentions how student-athletes should not be blamed or attacked for the outcome of someone else’s bet. Here’s an excerpt from the letter:
“There are fans that sit behind the bench yelling horrible things when expectations are not met, and the keyboard warriors not in attendance send cruel DMs to players when bets do not cash out. Prop bets are a direct avenue to the overwhelming number of death threats that student-athletes receive if they ‘ruin a parlay’ or cause a fan to lose their bet. Sports betting does not give anyone the right to dehumanize athletes. We are human beings over everything else – more than a jersey number, a stat line, or someone else’s wager.”
The SAIC wraps up the latter by mentioning that protecting student-athletes must be a priority.
The push to eliminate college player prop bets remains an ongoing fight. Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, and New York are among the states that have completely banned them. Then there are states like Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. that have no restrictions.
Baker continues leading the NCAA efforts to resolve the problem. The issue gained steam in January after federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania indicted more than two dozen individuals for allegedly fixing NCAA Division I college basketball games.
U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said 39 college basketball players from 17 different NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams led to 29 fixed games that took place between September 2022 and February 2025. However, the indictment did not include any Big Ten schools.
After the news broke, Baker sent letters to state gambling commissions reiterating the NCAA’s previous request regarding the elimination of player prop bets
The letter mentioned how “Gaming commissions should perform a comprehensive review of game prop markets and eliminate those that carry the highest risk for manipulation.”
