NCAA, NFLPA urge Congress to rein in betting

WASHINGTON, D.C. — NCAA president Charlie Baker and an NFLPA representative urged Congress to rein in the sports betting industry at a Senate hearing Tuesday, calling for federal legislation to combat gambling addiction and abuse of athletes.

At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Baker and NFLPA representative Johnson Bademosi, who played for Stanford and spent nine seasons in the NFL, spoke about the increasing harassment athletes face from bettors in the stands and on social media.

Bademosi noted the “insidious effect” that sports betting has on the mental health of players and fans. He mentioned a Buffalo Bills player who received death threats earlier this year because he missed a field goal, as well as a Minnesota Vikings player who deleted his social media because he received so much harassment about fantasy football.

“For most athletes, there is no gated community, no private security, and yet we, alone, are exposed to the threats associated with problematic gambling,” he said.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who introduced two pieces of sports betting legislation in the Senate this year, said the U.S. is “in the midst of a sports betting boom that is one of the most severe public health problems today.” He said the techniques sportsbooks use to target losing bettors and prevent winners from playing is “staggering.”

“[It] makes Wall Street look like child’s play,” he said.

He asked for backing for the Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet Act, or SAFE Bet Act, which would create minimum federal standards to regulate gambling companies, including a ban on prop bets, or bets on an individual athlete’s performance, and prohibiting sports betting companies from advertising during live sporting events. He also sponsored the Gambling Addiction Recovery, Investment and Treatment Act, which would create a federal tax on gambling to fund addiction treatment.

Baker said that an NCAA championship team received 24/7 police protection because of a threat from a sports bettor. He urged Congress to pass legislation to eliminate prop bets on college athletes, which are currently legal in 20 states. He said student-athletes have told him hundreds of times that classmates and friends ask them to change their performance in small ways to help them win their bets.

After the hearing, Baker said that while prop bets account for less than 1% of the total amount wagered on college sports, they are popular in parlays, a big revenue driver for sportsbooks.

“They can get rid of it; they did with the NBA,” Baker said. “I’m telling you, a lot of this stuff that gets directed at young people is all driven by prop bets.”

Former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter pleaded guilty in July to altering his performance to help bettors win wagers on the under on his statistics in multiple games last season. The NBA has since asked sportsbooks not to offer bets on players on two-way contracts, such as Porter.

Harry Levant, the director of gambling policy with the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University, said that the SAFE Bet Act, which he helped write, would also address the use of AI in sports betting. He pointed to DraftKings’ recent acquisition of Simplebet, a company that uses AI to create live odds, as an example of how sportsbooks can use technology to target vulnerable customers.

“What Congress can deal with is which forms of these bets should actually be permitted and which are simply too dangerous from a public health perspective,” he said.

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) raised concerns about match-fixing, especially as the U.S. prepares to host the World Cup in 2026 and the Summer Olympics in 2028.

The American Gaming Association, which represents the casino industry in the U.S., told ESPN it was not invited to testify at the hearing.

“Today’s hearing notably lacked an industry witness,” said Joe Maloney, the AGA’s senior vice president of strategic communications. “This unfortunate exclusion leaves the Committee and the overall proceeding bereft of testimony on how legal gaming protects consumers from the predatory illegal market and its leadership in promoting responsible gaming and safeguarding integrity.”

Baker faced intense questioning from Senators John Kennedy (R-La.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) about why the NCAA allows transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. Baker cited several federal court cases allowing transgender athletes to participate. He also said that out of 510,000 college athletes, he knew of fewer than 10 who are transgender.

In his closing statement, Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), said that Congress would continue to consider the issue of sports betting. “This is not the end of this discussion, but only the beginning, and as we see many aspects to this whole issue in terms of the future of sports, treatment of athletes, colleges and basically [the] gaming industry nationwide.”