NCAA: Men’s basketball players face highest betting harassment
A new National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) study has revealed that Division I men’s basketball players face the highest rate of gambling-related harassment across college sports, reflecting growing pressure on student-athletes as legal betting expands across the United States.
The NCAA found that 36 percent of Division I men’s basketball players reported receiving negative or threatening messages from individuals who had placed bets on their games within the last year. This rate is more than double the 16 percent reported among Football Bowl Subdivision athletes and significantly higher than the average across men’s sports, where 7 percent received similar messages.
The findings are part of the Student-Athlete Needs, Aspirations and Perspectives (SNAP) study, conducted between 30 September and 5 October. Delivered to 6,789 student-athletes across 163 institutions through a partnership with Teamworks, the survey asked participants in their sophomore year or above about key issues affecting their experience both online and on campus.
Other sports showed lower levels of harassment: Football Championship Subdivision and baseball athletes both reported rates of 3 percent, men’s soccer reported 2 percent, while track and field saw less than 1 percent. Women’s sport experienced far lower levels of abuse, with only 1 percent of Division I women’s student-athletes reporting harassment linked to sports wagering.
NCAA President on the concerns
NCAA President Charlie Baker said concerns over harassment were raised immediately after he took office in June: “One of the first things student-athletes told me when I became NCAA president was that they were being harassed online by people who are following or betting on their games.”
He added, “From day one, it’s been a priority to study this issue, monitor the public interactions, protect student-athletes and allow them to focus on being students and competing at the highest level on the court with their teammates.”
Abuse extends beyond social media
The study also identified that harassment is not confined to digital spaces. Nine percent of Division I men’s athletes said another student on campus had told them that they won or lost a bet based on the athlete’s performance or their team’s result.
Of those reporting such interactions, 29 percent were men’s basketball players and 26 percent were Football Bowl Subdivision athletes, underlining the increased pressures on student-athletes in the most visible and wagered-on sports.
NCAA pushes back on college player prop bets
The growth of player prop markets, which let people wager on certain athlete-related statistics rather than team results, have been linked to harassment and abuse by the organisation. The NCAA has urged authorities to limit these betting choices, claiming that they give participants direct incentives.
Baker has repeatedly issued warnings over the issue that states, and gaming operators continue to offer these bets, putting student-athletes and competition integrity at risk. He said, “The NCAA runs the largest integrity monitoring program in the country, and we educate hundreds of thousands of student-athletes about the damages of sports betting, but regulators, lawmakers and gaming operators can and should do more.”
Betting manipulation scandals intensify concerns
In addition to harassment, the NCAA has recently issued sanctions in multiple cases involving student-athletes manipulating their own performances or providing inside information for betting purposes. The NCAA permanently banned six men’s basketball players from competing in collegiate sports after uncovering three separate betting-related game manipulation schemes involving student-athletes at New Orleans, Mississippi Valley State, and Arizona State.
Additionally, the NCAA confirmed that the Arizona State case is directly linked to its Fresno State investigation, which resulted in lifetime bans for three former players. The players were banned following a high-profile investigation into gambling-related infractions during the 2024–25 season.
NCAA expands monitoring and reporting systems
Earlier this year, the NCAA tightened its game-day transparency rules in a bid to protect student-athletes and safeguard competition integrity amid the rapid growth of regulated online sports betting in the US.
Meanwhile, off the court, the NCAA partnered with Venmo in October, aimed at supporting college athletes who face harassment and abuse on the popular payment app. The collaboration saw the launch of a reporting hotline for athletes facing harassment and abuse linked to gambling.
As regulated sports betting continues to expand across the United States, the NCAA says it will deepen monitoring, education and policy enforcement to protect student-athletes, both online and on campus.
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