Editorial: Action needed to protect college athletes, integrity of competition from bettors' influence

CBC Editorial: Monday, April 1, 2024; #8919

The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company

Armando Bacot, the University of North Carolina graduate student and All-America basketball star, seems to be taking the social media heat for what it is and in stride.

Basketball fans, many of whom had placed bets – not on the outcome of the particular game which the Tar Heels won, but on how many rebounds he got or points he scored – expressed their disappointment in text messages. “I got, like, over 100 messages from people telling me I sucked and stuff like that because I didn’t get enough rebounds,” Bacot said.

What followed -- in Bacot’s response to a reporter’s question about the impact of the expanding legalization of gambling on college sport -- is a canary-in-the- coalmine kind of warning that must be heeded.

“It’s definitely a little out of hand,” he said. “I get the point of it too. Like, if you bet a lot of money on something, and you’re, like, one pick away and somebody messes it up, I understand the part of fans being mad. But it’s annoying, too.”

What Bacot was referencing is known as “prop betting” – wagering based on a player’s individual performance in a game and not on the final score.

Annoying is the small point. What about the athlete who succumbs to pressure or worse undue influence? What happens when aspects of individual performance to meet the demands of gamblers overcome the goal of winning a game?

Legal sports wagering, barely a month old in North Carolina, is also permitted in 37 other states along with the District of Columbia.

Colleges and university administrations, intercollegiate athletic organizations and state legislatures need to act before the potential for this kind of corruption becomes reality and overcomes collegiate athletics.

They must listen to the call to act from NCAA President Carlie Baker. “Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity of competition and leading to student-athletes getting harassed, “ Baker said. “The NCAA has been working with states to deal with these threats and many are responding by banning college prop bets.” https://www.wralsportsfan.com/21350139/

Already Ohio, Vermont and Maryland are among states that have removed prop betting on athletes’ performance in college sports.

The Virginia legislature this year declined to allow casino and online gambling in college sports.

When it comes to the kind of social media messages that Bacot received, West Virginia legislators have enacted a law to ban people from sports betting who have “harassed or shown a harmful pattern of conduct directed at any person involved in a sporting event.”

The spread of legal sports gambling has increased stress on college athletes, the NCAA Baker says. “All that chatter about who's playing, who's not playing. Who's sore, who's not sore. What's going on with the team you're playing? What do you think your chances are? Which is just classic chatter, where — in a world where people are betting — takes on a whole new consequence,” Baker said earlier this year at the NCAA convention.

Gov. Roy Cooper and the General Assembly need to act now.

When the legislature meets for its short session, it should immediately embark on an effort to adopt legislation to protect college athletes, the schools they attend and the integrity of the sports competition.

The public must be made aware of the seriousness of the situation. There should be public hearings. They should hear from the NCAA’s Baker.

More so, testimony needs come from collegiate athletic coaches and administrators; academic officials; campus trustees and UNC Board of Governors members (particularly those with direct connections to gambling interests). They need to explain the situation today, what their concerns are and answer questions from legislators and the public.

College athletes and the sports they participate in must be free from the undue influences of gamblers who only care about winning money.

The Atlantic Coast Conference, university presidents and chancellors along with athletic directors must step forward and work with the Legislature to protect student athletes and the integrity of the collegiate athletic competition.

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