NCAA, NFLPA prompt Congress to rein in wagering

David Purdum Close David Purdum ESPN Staff Writer Signed up with ESPN in 2014

Journalist covering gaming market considering that 2008 Shwetha Surendran Close Shwetha Surendran ESPN Shwetha Surendran is writer in ESPN’s investigative and business unit.Dec 17, 2024, 01:43 PM ET WASHINGTON, D.C.–

NCAA

president Charlie Baker and an NFLPA agent advised Congress to rein in the sports wagering industry at a Senate hearing Tuesday, requiring federal legislation to combat gambling addiction and abuse of athletes.At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, both Baker and NFLPA representative Johnson Bademosi, who played for Stanford and spent nine seasons in the NFL, spoke about the increasing harassment professional athletes deal with from bettors in the stands in addition to on social media.Bademosi kept in mind the”insidious impact”that sports wagering has on the mental health of players and fans. He discussed a Buffalo Costs player who received death dangers previously this year because he missed a field goal, in addition to a Minnesota Vikings player who erased his social media since he received a lot harassment about dream football. “For a lot of athletes, there is no gated community, no private security, and yet we, alone, are exposed to the hazards associated with bothersome gambling,”he said.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Senator Richard Blumenthal(D-Conn.), who presented 2 pieces of sports wagering legislation in the

Senate this year, stated the U.S. is”in the midst of a sports wagering boom that is among the most serious public health problems today.” He said that the techniques sportsbooks use to target losing wagerers and prevent winners from playing is “staggering.”” [It] makes Wall Street appear like child’s play, “he said.He requested for backing for the Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet Act, or SAFE Bet Act, which would create minimum federal standards to control betting business, including a restriction on prop bets, or bets on a specific athlete’s efficiency, and prohibiting sports betting business from advertising throughout live sporting events.

He likewise sponsored the Gaming Dependency Healing, Investment and Treatment Act, which would create a federal tax on betting to fund dependency treatment.Baker stated that an NCAA championship team got 24/7 police security since of a risk from a sports bettor. He advised Congress to pass legislation to remove prop bets on college professional athletes, which are currently legal in 20 states. He stated student-athletes have actually told him hundreds of times that schoolmates and pals ask to change their efficiency in little

ways to help them win their bets.After the hearing, Baker stated that while prop bets represent less than 1% of the overall quantity wagered on college sports, they are popular in parlays, a huge earnings motorist for sportsbooks.”They can eliminate it; they finished with the NBA,”Baker said.”I’m telling you, a lot of this stuff that gets directed at young people is all driven by prop bets. “Former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter pleaded guilty in July to altering his performance to assist wagerers win wagers on the under on his data in several games last season. The NBA has actually considering that asked sportsbooks not to use bets on players on two-way agreements, such as Porter.Baker faced extreme questioning

from Senators John Kennedy( R-La.)and Josh Hawley(R-Mo. )about why the NCAA allows transgender professional athletes to complete in ladies’s sports. Baker mentioned several federal court cases

permitting transgender professional athletes to get involved. He also stated that out of 510,000 college professional athletes, he understood of fewer than 10 who are transgender.Harry Levant, the director of betting policy with the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University, said that the SAFE Bet Act, which he assisted compose, would likewise resolve the

usage of AI in sports wagering. He indicated DraftKings’recent acquisition of Simplebet, a business that uses AI to develop live chances, as an example of how sportsbooks can use technology to target susceptible customers.” What Congress can deal with is which types of these bets must really be allowed and which are just too harmful from a public health perspective,

“he said.Senator Marsha Blackburn(R-Tenn.)raised concerns about match-fixing, especially as the U.S. prepares to host the World Cup in 2026 and the Summer season Olympics in 2028. The American Video Gaming Association, which represents the casino industry in the U.S., informed ESPN it was not welcomed to affirm at the hearing.”Today’s hearing notably lacked a market witness,”stated Joe Maloney, the AGA’s senior vice president of tactical communications.”This unfortunate exclusion leaves the Committee and the total case bereft of testament on how legal video gaming safeguards consumers from the predatory illegal market and

its leadership in promoting responsible video gaming and protecting stability.”In his closing statement, Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin( D-Ill.), said that Congress would continue to think about the issue of sports wagering.”This is not the end of this conversation, but only the start, and as we see many elements to this whole issue

in regards to the future of sports, treatment of athletes, colleges and essentially [the] gaming market across the country.”