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Effective November 1, 2025, NCAA student-athletes will be permitted to place bets on professional sports, including leagues such as the NFL, NBA, and NHL. On October 8, 2025, the NCAA's Division I Administrative Committee approved a proposal allowing both student-athletes and collegiate team staff members to wager on professional sports, while maintaining a strict prohibition on any betting activities related to collegiate athletics. This rule is set to take effect pending approval by NCAA Divisions II and III.1
The NCAA has indicated that the rule change will be accompanied by strengthened efforts to educate and support student-athletes on the less visible risks of gambling, including addiction, compulsive behavior, financial hardship, mental health challenges, and academic or career consequences. According to NCAA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Deena Casiero, the organization emphasizes that an abstinence-only approach is unlikely to be effective. Instead, the NCAA is advocating a strategy centered on education, risk awareness, and open dialogue to better equip student-athletes to navigate the evolving landscape of sports betting.2 This position has remained consistent, and previously in January of 2025, the NCAA released findings indicating that most sports betting behaviors among student-athletes involve relatively low stakes, while reaffirming that educational initiatives can play a meaningful role in shaping responsible gambling habits.3
Despite these assertions and internal findings, the NCAA continues to maintain limited transparency during ongoing sports-betting investigations, typically withholding details until a case is resolved. However, it may occasionally relent and release information when an investigation receives significant media attention. As a result, transparent and comprehensive data on the volume of collegiate sports betting violations has been difficult to obtain. A notable disclosure occurred in July of 2023, when a letter from the NCAA president, obtained by The Associated Press, revealed that the organization had identified 175 violations of its sports-betting policy since 2018, and was actively conducting 17 investigations at that time.4
The NCAA's new proposal allowing professional sports gambling by student-athletes, along with its related initiatives, also comes just one month after the NCAA announced on September 11, 2025, that thirteen men's college basketball players from six schools were accused of being involved in gambling-related misconduct. The alleged violations included betting against their own teams, manipulating game outcomes, and sharing insider information with third parties for betting purposes.5
Notably absent from the NCAA's remarks on the newly proposed rule change is any acknowledgment of the substantial body of new research highlighting the risks of gambling among young adults. For instance, a recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine by researchers at the University of California San Diego's Qualcomm Institute and School of Medicine reported a sharp rise in sports betting activity, accompanied by a significant increase in individuals seeking help for gambling addiction.6 Similarly, a study in the Journal of American College Health revealed troubling patterns among student bettors, with 25.5% exhibiting at least one behavior consistent with gambling disorder and 10.9% reporting two or more such behaviors, underscoring the growing dangers of sports betting within college populations.7
In addition, student-athletes are increasingly feeling pressure both on and off the field as public enthusiasm for sports gambling continues to grow. A 2024 NCAA study documented more than 740 incidents of abuse on social media directed at student-athletes, all directly linked to sports betting. A figure that accounted for 12% of all reported cases of abuse. NCAA President Charlie Baker acknowledged the severity of the issue at the time, calling it "incredibly alarming and completely unacceptable." 8 The NCAA further acknowledged the connection between betting and harassment following the 2025 NCAA March Madness tournament, during which 3,161 abusive or threatening social media posts by angry sports bettors were identified. These posts were reported to the relevant platforms and, when necessary, referred to law enforcement, highlighting the real-world consequences of the expanding sports betting culture.9
As the NCAA moves toward loosening restrictions and permitting professional sports betting activities for student-athletes, it does so amid mounting evidence that highlights the growing risks of gambling among young adults. While the NCAA emphasizes education and low-stakes behavior, recent studies and incidents suggest a more complex and troubling reality marked by addiction, mental health challenges, and increased abuse linked to betting culture. The absence of meaningful engagement with this research in the NCAA's public remarks raises concerns about whether the proposed changes adequately protect student-athletes. Whether this proposal will ultimately represent a positive shift for the NCAA and student-athletes or lead to unforeseen and potentially dangerous consequences remains to be seen.
Footnotes
2 Id.
6 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2830019 covered by https://today.ucsd.edu/story/study-reveals-surge-in-gambling-addiction-following-legalization-of-sports-betting
9 https://www.ncaa.org/news/2025/6/10/media-center-ncaa-releases-2025-march-madness-signify-data.aspx
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