NCAA president Charlie Baker is calling for a ban on college prop bets.
Prop bets — short for proposition bets — are wagers not related to the final score of a contest. An example of such a side bet would be an over/under on how many 3-pointers an individual player will make in a game.
“Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity and competition and leading to student athletes and professional athletes getting harassed. The NCAA has been working with states to deal with these threats and many are responding by banning college prop bets,” Baker said in a statement.
His request comes on the heels of ESPN reporting that the NBA is looking into betting irregularities involving Raptors forward Jontay Porter. At issue were two games in which prop bets on Porter were the two biggest winners on prop bets in the NBA on those respective evenings.
On both occasions, Porter left the game early, ensuring the under hit on his prop bets. ESPN has not reported a link between Porter and the wagers but the activity was flagged by league data scientists.
Baker does not want prop bets to become an issue at the collegiate level.
“This week we will be contacting officials across the country in states that still allow these bets and ask them to join Ohio, Vermont, Maryland and many others and remove college prop bets from all betting markets,” he said. “The NCAA is drawing the line on sports betting to protect student-athletes and to protect the integrity of the game — issues across the country these last several days show there is more work to be done.”
