Colleges Athletes Are Betting Despite Rules Against It

The state of Texas has stayed remarkably clean of sports betting scandals, something you can’t say the same about for other states. Lawmakers in the state will likely say it’s because they don’t have a legal betting industry to begin with.

But let’s be real here: people in Texas are finding ways to bet, whether that’s through offshore sportsbooks or prediction sites — both of which are easily accessible in the state. Heck, a few people have been caught doing so.

A year ago, the Texas Longhorns athletic department caught five people, student athletes and team employees, betting on NCAA games. Not only is that against Texas sports betting rules, but it’s an NCAA infraction. The bylaws say no one associated with college sports can bet on any collegiate game.

But how many people are actually following that rule? There’s a new report out from Front Office Sports, and it details just how blatantly some student-athletes — across the country, not just Texas — are skipping the rule. Keep reading and we’ll tell you all about it.

Betting Regardless of Rules

“We were going to bet regardless, no matter what. I think that any non-revenue-generating athlete should be able to.”

That’s a quote from a new Front Office Sports article. It comes from Charlie, a made-up name (to not reveal the real person) of a former Big East soccer player. That could be the like of Georgetown, Providence, UConn, or another similar school in the conference.

The story goes on to say he was putting down at least $20 every single day, but as much as $200 on big events like March Madness betting on the NFL Super Bowl. Every now and then, he’d hit a parlay that paid a few hundred bucks — maybe $400 — and that kept his account alive. His best day was worth $800, while at his worst, he’d eat a $600 loss.

Bets were coming through two modes — on legal sports betting apps and underground bookies. The latter used a credit system that’d only take or give money at the end of week, depending on how you did. Heck, he says even the fraternity he was a part of had a routine bookie. All this is to say is that betting was seeped into the college culture for Charlie.

Now is Charlie a one-off example? The story argues no, citing two other examples we’ll get into next.

Some Schools Are More At Risk Than Others

Front Office Sports also interviewed “Lenny”, who’s currently playing basketball for an Ivy League team. He says he sees teammates openly betting on sports. Per his own words, they’re doing so to make spare cash.

Before you scoff at Ivy League students needing extra money, it’s worth remembering these schools typically don’t offer athletic scholarships like other universities. Neither do they participate in revenue-sharing and NIL deals are quite rare too. So there’s a chance even students attending the premier universities (with astronomical tuitions) could use extra funds to get by.

Lenny is quoted as saying: “For a kid who comes from less-fortunate circumstances or is focused on providing for someone, the idea that you can make quick money just by keeping your [own stats] the same sounds like a great idea to them.” 

This probably doesn’t come as a shock to Ivy League admin. The story also features Ryan Qualls, who serves as Columbia’s (an Ivy League school, by the way) associate athletic director for compliance.

“Everybody knows the kids are doing some sort of sports wagering. But it’s hard to prove that,” Qualls was quoted in the Front Office Story.

Qualls says he’s had zero sports betting violations during his five years at the job. Not necessarily because Ivy League kids are the beacon of ethics, but more likely because they don’t have the resources to catch them effectively. That leads us into our next section, the haves and have-nots of compliance.

Not Everyone Has A Great Compliance Office

Back to the Texas story we started with. You know how they caught five different perpetrators illegally betting on sports? Through their compliance department. Those folks singled out two football players, a non-student athlete that had ties to the women’s tennis team, a student assistant, and an uncategorized athletic department employee doing the deed — which totaled $14,885.76 in bets.

The department used a service called ProhiBet. This services works hand in hand with colleges to spot suspicious sports betting activity. ProhiBet also has data from the top betting apps, things like a user’s name, address, and birthday. The service cross-checks the two to find illegal betting activity from athletes, coaches, and department staff.

But… this service is a luxury. Texas, one of, if not the best, funded collegiate sports can easily use this. It’s a rounding error in their budget. Smaller schools though? They’re less likely to do so, which is how stories like Charlie and Lenny’s squeak by.

With the way things are trending, it might become a mandatory thing for teams and conferences to have services like ProhiBet. SEC did just that in 2023, requiring all members school to use the tech. Will other schools, especially the ones with less dollars than SEC (pretty much everyone), follow suit? We think it’s only a matter of time…