SEC Makes Last-Minute Plea Against NCAA Sports Betting Approval

This April, we asked “how long until we see betting-related corruption undermine our favorite sports?” Seven months later, we have our answer. The NCAA announced lifetime bans of 6 former Division I basketball players from Mississippi Valley State, Arizona State and New Orleans, for collaborating with gamblers to fix games. The previous week, the FBI indicted more than 30 people in a sports betting investigation that included NBA players and coaches accused of manipulating games, tanking and, for good measure, running rigged poker gatherings. Earlier in the month, the FBI arrested Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, both pitchers with MLB’s Cleveland Guardians, for throwing specific pitches that the feds allege they had coordinated with prop bettors.

For college athletes with easy access to inside information from former teammates who have turned pro, the temptation to turn that intel into quick cash would be too great to resist, especially given the proliferation of frictionless mobile sports betting technology. And while the SEC has helped lead the charge to capitalize on the new age where players get to participate in college sports megabusiness, Sankey is wise to fight against an expansion of college athlete betting—and to reinforce the NCAA’s responsibility to handle detection and enforcement (and the costs thereof).