NCAA Seeking Ban on Athletes Placing Legal Sports Wagers

NCAA president Mark Emmert wants players banned from betting on all collegiate sports.

NCAA President Mark Emmert. (Photo by Brett Wilhelm/NCAA Photos via Getty Images )
NCAA President Mark Emmert. (Photo by Brett Wilhelm/NCAA Photos via Getty Images )
NCAA Photos via Getty Images

Obviously, the NCAA wouldn’t want its athletes betting on games they are playing in.

But NCAA president Mark Emmert wants to take things a step farther than that and maintain a ban on student-athletes placing legal wagers on any and all sports.

“We want a prohibition,” Emmert said during an appearance at the Final Four. “The membership wants a prohibition of athletes gambling in any sports, period.”

To do that, Emmert said the NCAA will push for federal guidelines to be passed to help enforce the ban.

“We need to try to make sure that we know that everyone is working off consistent data and information because that becomes a source of a lot of bad behavior when you’ve got lots and lots of different data sources,” Emmert said.

However, the NCAA has lifted its ban on holding championship events in states where gambling is legal and that rule could be changed permanently if legislation is passed to that end.

Despite that, Emmert and the NCAA remain dedicated to preventing college athletes from betting on sports.

That ban, which is in place under current rules, will be difficult for the NCAA to enforce due to lack of resources, as the governing body’s nearly annual recruiting scandals demonstrate.

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