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SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is lobbying the NCAA to reverse its recent move to lift the ban on athletes being allowed to gamble on professional sports, calling the new policy a “major step in the wrong direction.” Last week, the NCAA announced that athletes in all three NCAA divisions would be allowed starting Saturday to place legal wagers on professional sports without affecting their eligibility. Sankey disagreed with the change, and said so in a letter to NCAA president Charlie Baker, which was obtained by several media outlets on Tuesday. “The integrity of competition is directly threatened when anyone with insider access becomes involved in gambling,” Sankey wrote. “Even when the wagers are placed on professional sports, the simple act of participating in gambling normalizes behavior, blurs boundaries and erodes judgment.” Sankey cited the recent NBA gambling scandal, which resulted in the arrest of Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Denver Nuggets coach (and Basketball Hall of Famer) Chauncey Billups last week. Ironically, the NCAA policy change came exactly one day before the federal government announced the indictment of more than 30 individuals who allegedly conspired to affect the outcomes of wagers on NBA games and/or high-stakes, underground poker games. Sankey noted in his letter to the NCAA that the NBA gambling scandal came about despite guard rails already being in place to prevent such illegal activities from happening. He noted that college athletes generally possess “far fewer resources and far greater outside influence.” Sankey also said he had met recently with the SEC’s school presidents and chancellors, who agreed that the NCAA “should restore its prior policy — or a modified policy — communicating a prohibition on gambling by student-athletes and athletics staff, regardless of the divisional level of their sport.” College athletes are still prohibited from betting on college sports. However, in announcing the NCAA policy change on Oct. 8, Division I Council chairman Josh Whitman — who is also athletics director at Illinois — said the new rules encouraged “healthy habits for student-athletes who choose to engage in betting activities on professional sports.”
