NCAA Cancels Ruling to Let College Athletes Bet on Pro Sports

In a down-to-the-wire vote, the NCAA officially rescinded a rule change to allow college athletes to bet on pro sports—a ruling that was slated to go through until a series of betting scandals rocked the sports world in the months leading up to the proposed change.

The reversal came just 30 minutes before the deadline, with St. John’s casting it ballot against the change, tipping the scales over the ⅔ majority of NCAA schools needed.

While sportsbooks may not admit it openly, they stood to gain from the rule change and certainly wanted this ruling to pass. NIL has padded the pockets of college athletes with new money that could be spent, among other things, on sports betting.

But sports fans, and even bettors themselves, should be breathing a sigh of relief that the ban was ultimately upheld. It’s a step in the direction of reinforcing betting integrity, especially in the wake of illegal betting rings across multiple sports and leagues that have surfaced in recent months. Many college athletes still maintain relationships with former teammates-turned-pro, which could lead to the exchange of non-public insider team knowledge or, at worst, complete match-fixing or point-shaving.

While we’ve temporarily staved off a change that could have had seismic effects the betting landscape (and the competitive landscape), the pressure to grow the sports betting market will continue to intensify. Sportsbooks’ incentives to increase their reach, especially among athletes with more disposable income than your typical bettor, remain—even at the expense of maintaining the integrity of the game. Will we look back on this decision as the tipping point where colleges, fans and bettors began to say “enough is enough”?