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A group of Ohio lawmakers has called on the state’s gaming regulator to rescind its decision to prohibit player-specific proposition bets on collegiate athletes, arguing they are no different from professional sports.
In February, the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) approved a request from the National Collegiate Athletic Administration (NCAA) to prohibit player proposition betting on collegiate sports in the state.
At the time, Matt Schuler, executive director of the commission, stated that granting the NCAA’s request would “safeguard the integrity of sports betting and be in the best interest of the public”.
Under the policy, any bet on an individual athlete’s performance or statistics for an NCAA sporting event is no longer permitted, and full team proposition bets are allowed only if the wager is historically determined by at least two players in more than 50 percent of outcomes.
Prohibited bet types now include a bet on a collegiate team’s passing yards in a football game, as that statistic would typically only include the starting quarterback.
In a joint letter by Representatives Jay Edwards, Jeff LaRe and Cindy Adams, the three Republican lawmakers wrote that they understood the “circumstances in which this decision was made [but] we believe it is one that was not needed”.
“With the current landscape of collegiate athletics and NIL [name, image and likeness compensation for college athletes], players are now being paid to play (and perform) in certain sports,” the letter states. “That is no different than any other professional sport (i.e., NFL, NBA, or MLB).
“And with professional sports, any individual can go on DraftKings or FanDuel to place a prop-bet on any athlete.”
The issue of prop bets on collegiate games was one of the topics discussed by the Study Commission on the Future of Gaming in Ohio and ultimately included in the legislative panel's final 354-page report released on Friday (July 12).
The bipartisan commission included members of the Senate and House, along with the chairs of the state racing commission and the OCCC, and the director of the Ohio Lottery.
Edwards, who was co-chair of the study commission, and his two House colleagues said instances of abuse of individual college athletes by bettors should be investigated and prosecuted accordingly.
“But the response from the OCCC to simply ban prop-betting on individual collegiate athletes looks to solve the problem without addressing the issue,” the letter signed by the three lawmakers states. “We recommend that the OCCC’s policy be rescinded and prop betting on college athletes be restored.”
Jessica Franks, an OCCC spokeswoman, said the commission was aware of the report’s release.
“Regarding the ban on proposition wagers involving collegiate athletes — the NCAA followed existing provisions of Ohio law when it requested the commission prohibit player-specific proposition wagers,” Franks told Vixio GamblingCompliance in an email.
“The commission endeavored to honestly and impartially follow the law with consideration and respect given to all viewpoints. The NCAA showed just cause and therefore the prohibition was adopted.”
Earlier this year, NCAA president Charlie Baker began asking various state gaming regulators to ban proposition bets on collegiate athletes after numerous reports of integrity issues and player harassment in previous months. State regulators in Ohio, Maryland and Vermont all agreed to introduce such a ban.
Starting August 1, a ban on collegiate prop bets will also take effect in Louisiana. Several states already had bans of some sort in place, including New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia and Oregon.
In Iowa, regulations adopted by the state's Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC) only ban prop bets on any athletes representing an Iowa college team, while allowing gamblers to wager on prop bets involving collegiate athletes on out-of-state teams.
Prop Bets Ban On Hold In Wyoming
So far, Montana is the only state to reject a ban on collegiate prop bets as sought by the NCAA.
During a meeting on July 11, the Wyoming Gaming Commission (WGC) tabled the issue citing a desire to monitor developments in other states before making a final decision.
The University of Wyoming, whose team name is the Cowboys and is a member of the Mountain West Conference of the NCAA, supports the NCAA’s ban and has expressed concerns with the harassment of their student athletes. Proposition bets are currently available on Wyoming football and basketball games.
“We don’t have anything that is specific in the rules for someone who is found to be harassing a student athlete to where they could be banned from wagering and maybe that is the direction we need to go,” said Charlie Moore, executive director of the WGC.
Moore said if Wyoming officials found that an athlete was being harassed they would investigate and submit what they found to the WGC for agents to review, and then “it would be as simple as picking up the phone and sending a message to the sportsbooks that that individual needs to be eliminated from wagering”.
“Now there is a flipside to that,” Moore added. “Where does that person go? Is he going to quit wagering? Probably not. So, guess what, we have now driven these folks back to the illegal market, which has been the reason behind authorizing sports wagering to get it under a regulatory oversight.”
Michael Steinberg, WGC operations manager, confirmed staff had a meeting with university officials and heard numerous stories of harassment of their student athletes.
“Some of these stories were pretty shocking to say the least; however, none of the stories related specifically to any prop betting or even wagering in general,” Steinberg wrote in a memo to the commission. “These cases of harassment were vile but didn’t seem to be connected to betting.”
Steinberg reminded commissioners that harassment does not only occur at the collegiate level, and there are many documented cases of professional athletes being harassed by unhappy bettors.
“We all agree that harassment of student athletes is bad and something that should not be tolerated,” Steinberg said. “The question then becomes, is banning prop bets going to eliminate harassment of athletes?”
Moore confirmed the WGC could issue a decision to ban prop bets on college athletes without having to issue a new regulation.
