Find out why legal sports betting is good for the NCCA and will allow championships in different states and give punters more choice in online bookmakers. H1: Legalizing Sports Betting is good for the NCAA

The long-awaited decision from the Supreme Court came last week and the federal ban on single-game sports betting in states other than Nevada was struck down. In the biggest news event in recent sports betting news, the court ruled that the federal government had overstepped its powers by infringing on states’ rights in violation of the 10th Amendment when it passed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.

Delaware and New Jersey are ready to pass sports gambling legislation in the next couple of weeks and there could be at least 20 more states to do the same in the next couple of years. This will allow for more online sports betting sites to be able to accept bets during major sporting events - something that has been available at legal betting sites in Canada for years.

The NCAA however is pressing Congress to enact another federal law regulating sports betting. They feel that a law needs to be passed to protect the integrity of its games and have argued that without federal protection, the games and athletes will be open to match fixing. The NCAA is worried because unlike professional athletes who are often paid huge salaries, college athletes are only paid in educational benefits. This has been the reason why some gamblers have been able to get athletes to provide insider information or fix games.

Legal Sports Betting on NCAA Games Has Advantages

The NCAA institutions have been looking for ways to keep fans engaged and attending games and the Supreme Court ruling could be the answer. Sports betting makes a lot of money and according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, around $300 million was spent on the NCAA Basketball Tournament in 2017. An additional $150 billion was wagered illegally on sports betting in 2017 and $10 billion of this was on the NCAA Tournament.

Gambling is not a threat to college athletics and has been legal in Nevada since 1931. The NCAA and the Nevada sports books work together to keep the games clean and monitor against game fixing. These efforts will become more enhanced as more states legalize sports betting. As more money is wagered through legal sports books the state and the NCAA will be better able to monitor games for problems. ScoresOddsPicks has a dedicated NCAAF news section where our visitors can follow the latest betting news.

It has been suggested that gambling related money be set aside and given to youth programs in the state so that the NCAA are not seen to be profiting from gambling. This will help ensure plenty of skilled college athletes in the future and better define the different between college and professional sports.

Legal sports betting will be great for the NCAA as their biggest sources of revenue for the college athletic programs are television money and gate receipts. The average attendance for Division 1 colleges has been dropping for the past ten years. With the introduction of legal sports betting, an increase in game attendance and TV viewership will happen as those that bet on sports watch more games than average fans and this is a big win for the NCAA.

NCAA Championships In States That Allow Sports Betting

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has temporarily suspended its prohibition on championship events being played in states that allow sports gambling. There are five states that have already passed laws legalizing sports betting and these states will start accepting bets in the near future. These states are, New Jersey, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Delaware.

Pennsylvania is scheduled to host 12 NCAA Division 1 championship events between now and 2022 including the men’s basketball tournament, the men’s lacrosse final four and championship game, and the Frozen Four men’s hockey semi-finals and final. These are all high-profile events that attract a lot of visitors who want to spend money.

Many other states that have been awarded NCAA championship events have also stated that they plan to explore sports betting as well.

The NCAA have stated that the temporary suspension could become permanent and this will open up the possibility of holding championship events in Las Vegas which has been offering legal sports betting for a long time.

Could Legal Sports Betting Put NCAA Athletes at Risk?

Kenny White is the Vice President of data integrity at Don Best Sports a company that provides betting odds and information to sportsbooks. He was the one who discovered suspicious activity at the University of Toledo where seven former football and basketball players were tried and convicted.

Incidents like these have come to the surface again with the Supreme Court’s ruling to allow states legalize sports gambling. According to White, amateur athletes are the highest risk because there are no paycheck and they don’t make any money. If a gambler throws $10,000 in front of them and says fix one game, you don’t even need to lose, there’s a pretty good chance that they will do it. If they do and are found out that’s it for them, there is no coming back.

With Delaware and New Jersey taking their first wagers and Mississippi, West Virginia, and Rhode Island coming next, a lot of states are wondering what the impact will be on college athletics. The NCAA supports a federal model on legalized sports gambling and they have concerns about the impact on student athletes.

Jake Williams of Sportradar, said less than 1 percent of the 400,000 matches the company covers are deemed to have suspicious betting or likely to be fixed. He has suggested the NCAA along with member schools beef up corruption and integrity units and invest in education and monitoring.

Sara Slane, senior Vice President of public affairs at the American Gaming Association said that the more transparent and regulated a sports betting system is, the better the NCAA is in detecting when something goes awry.

To combat insider trading it has been suggested that league-wide injury reports similar to the NFL will help with integrity. It was even suggested that legal sportsbooks could pay the NCAA for streamlined information which will be an additional source of revenue for the NCAA.

Education and monitoring is going to be essential moving forward and while legal sports betting may be healthy for the market, there will also need to be balance.