Player prop betting in college sports has been controversial since the PASPA overturn in 2018. A number of legal sports betting states have either banned it already or never legalized it to begin with. And with several huge basketball stars — North Carolina’s Armando Bacot and LSU’s Angel Reese — citing massive social media harassment, Louisiana has made the switch and will ban betting on college player props starting Aug. 1.
The NCAA has been pressuring states to ban college player prop betting much of the year, and Maryland, Ohio and Vermont have already complied. North Carolina is still holding out, having just legalized sports betting last month, but as reported yesterday, there is some discussion going on there as well.
Aside from student athlete harassment, there is a game integrity component here as well, as the NCAA believes player props open up the possibility of athletes swaying outcomes to help others cash bets. It is already being investigated in the NBA with Jontay Porter, for example. College athletes also largely to not have the money-making future (or present) that pros do, and thus they be more inclined to help props hit or miss.
The Louisiana Gaming Control stated that it was already looking into player props for college sports before the NCAA’s push.
Other states aside from North Carolina that have stated it will also be looking into potentially suspending player props are Michigan and New Jersey. So far these two states have stated they are merely looking into the matter and discussing concerns, not necessarily an outright ban as of yet.
