The NCAA is reconsidering how to discipline its athletes who are involved in sports gambling that doesn’t relate to their specific team.
The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach shared an update from the NCAA as the organization openly realigns its ideas on what constitutes as a serious offense for athletes who bet on sports.
Per Auerbach, the NCAA will consider lessening the penalties for those who engage with sports wagering as long as it does not involve betting on their own programs. It’d be a change from existing NCAA penalties for gambling infractions, which were updated before the college football season began.
The possible new guidelines would require “education on sports wagering rules and prevention” for first-time offenses rather than a punishment that includes being withheld from NCAA competition.
Second-time offenders could be withheld from NCAA competition depending on the dollar amount wagered and third-time offenders could lose a full season of eligibility.
The NCAA is reexamining the penalties that current athletes face for betting on sports — but not their own team.
Here's what they're considering moving toward: pic.twitter.com/m0YIxhZj2M
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) October 4, 2023
The possible rule change doesn’t take away the severe punishments for athletes who bet on their own games, as the NCAA still wants to crack down on “wagering behaviors that potentially compromise the integrity of contests.”
The NCAA could follow recent NFL gambling rule changes that lessen suspensions for sports betting at team facilities but increase them for betting on NFL contests.
