NCAA president Charlie Baker reiterated the problems prop betting brought to college athletics before the start of the NCAA tournament.
Baker spoke about the topic while sitting in “CBS Evening News.” This aired hours before the first four opening games in March that began on Tuesday.
The head of the NCAA said the biggest concern he heard from university athletes was that prop betting and the toxic atmosphere it created within the venue.
Prop bets are tied to bets created by gamblers that are directly related to the statistics of a particular player.
Baker explained comments coming from fans related to this type of sports betting, saying fans would scream at student-athletes.
“I sit behind the bench at one of these meeting tournaments, listen to the bettors, scream and scream about the performances of these kids,” Baker said. “You need to do better. I'm losing money to you.” Or what we see online that we track in tournaments is far more vicious and brutal than that.
Baker said the NCAA is trying to resolve the issue by encouraging state gaming authorities to ban support for college athletics.
As of 2025, 38 states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports bets, while 19 states can impose prop bets on university athletes' performances.
“That's a bad situation,” Baker said.
The NCAA tried to reduce harassment with a PSA campaign aimed at sports bettors to prevent harassment of players prior to the NCAA tournament.
Part of the PSA features narration directed at sports bettors with extremely powerful languages.
“Only the losers harass college athletes after losing their bets, but it happens almost every day. The roots of the team get crazy when the buzzer sounds, but don't harass anyone because they've lost their bets. The voice was said on PSA.
Last week, Rep. Paul Tonko (New York) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) reintroduced the safe betting law in the US Congress ahead of the March insanity.
Part of the proposed bill would include banning college players' prop bets and in-play bets known as live betting.
At a press conference on Capitol Hill, Tonko called government products at all levels the bill “to pay attention to or understand the effects of gambling-related harms”;
American Games Association It is predicted that a $3.1 billion bet will be made during the insanity of March.
A 2024 NCAA study found that one in three high-profile university athletes were harassed in connection with sports betting.
