More than 40 athletes from Iowa and Iowa State could be facing discipline from both law enforcement and the NCAA for impermissible online wagering.
The NCAA consequences could be far worse than the legal ones.
While the penalty for betting on sporting events in the state of Iowa for individuals under the age of 21 is a fine of $645, a college athlete could be sidelined for most of a season because of NCAA rules.
Five years since a Supreme Court decision paved the way for states to legalize betting on sporting events, more than half have done so. As legal gambling on games has become pervasive, NCAA rules prohibiting it remain strict and college sports leaders are cautious about dialing them back.
Tulane athletic director Troy Dannen said decision-makers should always be open to modernizing NCAA bylaws to reflect changing societal norms. He cited how marijuana-usage rules were relaxed to reflect more permissive laws in recent years.
“But the fact that it’s legal doesn’t mean it should be acceptable if you are a student-athlete,” he said.
Earlier this week, Iowa and Iowa State acknowledged they are cooperating with both local gaming regulators, law enforcement and the NCAA after in an investigation of gambling activities revealed potential involvement by athletes in multiple sports.
That came on the heels of Alabama firing its baseball coach amid an investigation by gaming authorities of suspicious bets placed in Ohio on one of its team’s games.
In the Alabama case, no athletes are suspected to be involved. In the Iowa case, some Hawkeyes baseball players have already been sidelined from competition, which is routine when a school believes the eligibility of an athlete may have been compromised.
The Iowa director of gaming told The Associated Press earlier this week that no evidence indicates match fixing or suspicious wagering activity in games involving the Hawkeyes or Cyclones.
NCAA rules prohibit athletes, coaches and staff from betting on sports in which the NCAA conducts a championship. For example, athletes aren’t allowed to legally place bets on NFL or games or pro golf. Even participation in a March Madness bracket pool with stakes is prohibited.
College athletes can bet on horse racing where it is legal and gamble in casinos if they are of legal age, but NCAA rules against legal wagering are stricter than most professional leagues. The appetite to ease them might be low.
“It would be a major mistake to change NCAA rules regarding gambling if it negatively impacts the integrity of games,” Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner Jim Phillips told AP via text message.
Dannen said he had not seen anything introduced in the governance process that would loosen the NCAA rules, while Ohio athletic director Julie Cromer had a simple summation.
“It’s different to be a competitor than to be a consumer of sports,” said Cromer, who co-chaired the NCAA’s Division I transformation committee last year.
