College Basketball

NCAA Survey Finds Increase in Sports Wagering Within Schools

Published

8 months ago

September 9, 2023

The NCAA has found an increase in sports wagering problems at schools involving student-athletes and staff members. The NCAA recently surveyed every school’s senior compliance administrator, and they used 500 responses to collect data.

The survey contained a few questions from a study in 2019.

“Has your athletics department dealt with a sports wagering and/or problem gambling issue within the past year?”

2019: 3% said yes

2023: 27% said yes

NCAA President Charlie Baker commissioned the survey to study how campus administrators perceive various sports wagering trends and what is being done to deliver sports wagering education to their athletes, coaches and others affiliated with athletics at their school.

“Student-athletes are getting harassed by bettors, and billion-dollar ad campaigns are targeting young people across the country. We need all the help we can get, including from regulators and sportsbooks, to protect student-athletes and protect the integrity of the games,” Baker said. “The NCAA will use this staff survey data, as well as data from our prior sports betting activities survey of college-age respondents, to make the best tools available to help schools educate student-athletes on how and why to avoid sports betting. Clearly there is more work to do, but this survey will be a big help with all our sports betting efforts.”

100% of the autonomy schools recorded that they educated student-athletes, coaching staffs and athletic administrators about sports wagering. The NCAA has a strict no-tolerance policy on any member gambling on NCAA events. Iowa State’s football team has been in the spotlight recently after the state of Iowa caught multiple student-athletes gambling on college football games, including the Cyclones games.