Ohio and Maryland Prohibit Prop Bets on College Players

Summary:

• Ohio and Maryland have announced their decisions to prohibit college player prop bets.
• The decisions came after the NCAA formulated a series of concerns regarding the bets.
• The concerns focused on the necessity to protect players and the integrity of sports competitions.

On February 23, the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) announced that it would put a ban on all individual college player prop bets and gave sportsbook operators until the end of the month to fully comply with the new orders.

Maryland initiated the same ban on March 1, allowing state sportsbooks to honor all bets made on or prior to February 29.

Harassment and Mental Health Concerns

The decision to prohibit prop bets on college players was mostly a result of a request issued by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

As explained by the OCCC, the NCAA made six “specific concerns” in regard to college player prop bets public, mostly connected to the need to protect both the integrity of sports contests and players.

The initial two concerns were related to the negative effects that prop bets have already been proven to have on athletes.

Namely, both the NCAA and member schools received reports of athletes being harassed by upset bettors who had lost prop bets. The organization emphasized the negative effects on athletes’ mental health and well-being.

The following three concerns concerned game integrity, with the mention that the public and students in general can gain easy access to college athletes, which generates a higher risk of insider information being passed on.

Match-Fixing Risks

Another problem is the possibility that athletes may want to place bets on themselves or against themselves in case match-fixers convince them, through substantial amounts of money, to influence a game one way or another for betting purposes.

The greater risk for college students to be addicted to betting on sports was another issue discussed by the NCAA.

The body believes individual player prop bets are relevant for in-game betting and micro-betting, enabling people to place a large number of wagers in a more limited timeframe.

While this is a concern that could be expressed about the entire population as a whole, college students are known to have more awareness and a higher attraction to prop bets on college players.

Sports betting operators in the two affected states have already shown concern regarding the way the new measure will make their revenue drop.