Starting November 1, NCAA student-athletes and athletics departments staff members will be permitted to bet on professional sports. The official announcement came Thursday after the Division II and III management councils approved the proposal.
The NCAA Division I Administrative Committee adopted the proposal earlier this month. Betting on college sporting events will still be prohibited. This includes sharing information about college competitions with other bettors.
The Division II council emphasized in approving the rule change that the action is not an endorsement of sports betting, particularly for student-athletes.
“Our action reflects alignment across divisions while maintaining the principals that guide college sports,” Roberta Page, director of athletics at Slippery Rock and chair of the Division II Management Council, said. “This change recognizes the realities of today’s sports environment without compromising our commitment to protecting the integrity of college competition or the well-being of student-athletes.”
The NCAA Division III Management Council shares a similar stance of not endorsing sports betting. Jason Verdugo, chair of the Division III Management Council and athletics director at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, said the focus remains on education and harm reduction.
“We want to make sure student-athletes understand the boundaries of permissible behavior and the risks that gambling can pose to their well-being and the integrity of college sports,” Verdugo said.
There are currently measures in place meant to help student-athletes. The NCAA offers a gambling harm education program done in collaboration with EPIC Global Solutions that is free to schools. In 2024, the NCAA launched its Draw The Line Campaign that prioritizes student-athlete education and addresses responsible gambling.
One of the major stories this week was the NBA gambling scandal in which Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was arrested on Thursday for alleged illegal sports-betting activity. The FBI have charged 30-plus defendants in a major gambling investigation.
The NCAA is closely monitoring the situation. It runs one of the world’s largest integrity monitoring programs. Leading the push to ban player proposition bets continues to be another major focus. So far, the Association has successfully petitioned four states to eliminate prop bets on college athletes.
NCAA President Charlie Baker addressed these topics in his statement regarding Thusday’s sports betting indictments.
“We are grateful for federal law enforcement’s efforts to stamp out illegal sports betting, and I am proud that the NCAA continues to have the most aggressive competition integrity policies in place,” Baker said. “The Association has and will continue to pursue sports betting violations using a layered integrity monitoring program for over 22,000 contests, but we still need more states, regulators and gaming companies to help in this effort by eliminating risky prop bets to reduce opportunities for manipulation.”
