NCAA President Charlie Baker reiterated the issues that prop betting has created for college athletics before the start of the NCAA Tournament.
Baker spoke on the topic during a sit-down with “CBS Evening News” that aired hours before the opening game of the First Four of March Madness began on Tuesday.
The NCAA head said the biggest concern he had heard from college athletes is over prop betting and the toxic atmosphere it has created inside venues.
Props bets are tied to wagers made by a gambler associated directly with a specific player’s stats.
Baker described the comments that are coming from fans related to this type of sports betting, saying fans yell at the student-athletes.
“Go sit behind the bench at one of these conference tournaments and listen to the bettors, yell and scream at these kids about their performance,” Baker said. “‘You need to do better. I’m losing money on you.’ Or the stuff that shows up online which we track in our tournaments, which is way more vicious and brutal than that. It’s really, this is a problem.”
Baker said the NCAA is trying to fix the problem by encouraging state gaming authorities to ban prop betting on college athletics.
As of 2025, 38 states and the District of Columbia legalized sports betting, and 19 states allow for prop bets to be placed on college athletes’ performances.
“It’s a bad situation,” Baker said.
The NCAA has attempted to curtail the harassment before the NCAA Tournament with a PSA campaign aimed at sports bettors to keep them from harassing players.
Part of the PSA features a voiceover directed at sports bettors with very strong language.
“Only a loser would harass college athletes after losing a bet, but it happens almost every day. Root for your team, get crazy when the buzzer sounds, but don’t harass anyone because you lost a bet. It’s time we draw the line and put an end to the abuse,” the voice said in the PSA.
Last week, Rep. Paul Tonko (New York) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) re-introduced the SAFE BET Act in U.S. Congress ahead of March Madness.
Part of the proposed bill involves banning college player prop bets and in-play betting, better known as live betting.
In a press conference on Capitol Hill, Tonko called the bill a product of the government at all levels failing “to pay attention to or understand the impact of gambling-related harms.”
The American Game Association is predicting that $3.1 billion in wagers will be made during March Madness.
A study by the NCAA from 2024 found that one in three high-profile college athletes has been harassed related to sports betting.
