Charlie Baker has not been shy about his attempt to keep certain elements of sports betting out of the NCAA.
The president of collegiate athletics’ governing body was adamant in March that lawmakers and regulators in legal sports betting states should prohibit college player props because of the harassment of athletes.
If Baker had his way, PASPA would never have been overturned and sports betting wouldn’t be legal in 38 U.S. states due to the issues its caused the NCAA.
“I kind of wish sports betting had just stayed in Vegas,” Baker said this week at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and Affiliates Convention.
Baker, a featured speaker at the event at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, said sports betting is “far more challenging for young people to avoid.”
Baker, re: Sports Betting
— Matt Brown (@MattBrownEP) June 10, 2024
"I kinda wish sports betting had just stayed in Las Vegas"
With college sports betting legalized in many states, "it is far more challenging for young people to avoid it"
First-year issues
The former governor of Massachusetts took over the NCAA president post last summer. Since then, the governing body has dealt with betting scandals and reports of player harassment.
Several athletes at Iowa and Iowa State were charged with illegal sports betting and some were suspended by the NCAA gambling rules violations.
Brad Bohannon, the former baseball coach at Alabama, was fired for aiding a known sports betting with information and then hit with a 15-year show cause order by the NCAA.
Former North Carolina basketball player Armando Bacot said in March that he’s received “over 100 messages from people telling me I sucked” after he didn’t hit his rebound prop total in a game.
Baker said this week that the harassment is coming from their peers.
“This all has to stop,” Baker said. “So far we've managed to work with four states to shut down prop betting on college sports.”
Charlie Baker: "This all has to stop. so far we've managed to work with four states to shut down prop betting on college sports."
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) June 10, 2024
Following his lead
Since Baker began his anti-prop campaign in March, those markets are Louisiana, Ohio, Maryland, and Vermont.
Regulators in other states, including New Mexico and Wyoming, are looking into banning collegiate props.
"Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity and competition and leading to student-athletes and professional athletes getting harassed,” Baker said in a March statement. “The NCAA has been working with states to deal with these threats and many are responding by banning college prop bets.”
