In May 2018, the United States Supreme Court made a long-awaited ruling that ended up lifting the ban by the federal government regarding betting on single sports games in all other states but Nevada, because the ban did not apply there. This was in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association that had lasted in the federal courts from 2012. While announcing the verdict, the Supreme Court faulted the federal government for overstepping its powers and infringing on the rights of state; which as in violation of the 10th Amendment by passing an Act on Professional and Amateur Sports Protection.
New Law Controlling Sports Betting
With most states having already `passed sports gambling legislation, the NCAA seems not to have accepted defeat. They started pressing Congress to pass a new federal law that would regulate sports betting. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the law will be crucial in protecting the integrity of the games.
They argue that lifting the federal ban on sports betting is going to compromise the integrity of its championships since the athletes and game, in general, will be vulnerable to match-fixing. To be precise, the NCAA is having sleepless nights because college athletes, unlike their professional counterparts who rake in millions of dollars; only benefit through educational scholarships. Although the benefits can cumulatively be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, they help very little with the athlete’s personal needs. It is not surprising therefore that some of the online betting platforms have been able to charm a few athletes into fixing games or providing insider information. The NCAA is therefore worried that though the integrity of its games is going to be watered down and are now looking for protection by the federal government.
How Far Can College Athletes Go With Game Fixing?
It is well known that game fixing violates NCAA rules and is also considered criminal. Why then would a college athlete be ready to risk jail as well as their prospects in professional career just to fix some games? The answer lies in the huge amounts of money involved. In fact, the Nevada Gaming Control Board (the only state that wasn’t affected by the previous federal ban) claims that in 2017 for example; Nevada sports books had bets total to $4.8 billion, of which about $300 million was on basketball in the NCAA championships.
Although the numbers seem very large, the board still gave an estimate that an extra $150 to $300 billion was staked illegally, which includes about $10 billion used on the NCAA championship. While the NCAA sensitizes athletes about gambling, and are planning to step up those efforts with the recent supreme court ruling, there’s just so much cash involved giving all reasons for gamblers to target athletes at the college level.
Are Regulations Really Necessary?
The demands by NCAA and its other institutions of trying to prohibit gambling on state-college games that are held within the state, and asking sports brooks to pay colleges some portion of the gambling money is not really necessary. The NCAA does not need to have this money to help with monitoring betting lines or even work with sportsbooks.
There’s no way gambling can be a new threat to athletics at the college level since Nevada has been doing it legally since 1931. Therefore, there’s no point in the NCAA fearing casino bonus ohne einzahlung. Both parties; the Nevada sports books and NCAA have a common interest, which lies in keeping the game clean. They, therefore, work side by side in monitoring and protecting against any attempts of game fixing.
