As other states are beginning to reconsider offering player-specific collegiate prop bets, North Carolina sports betting will offer a complement of college prop bets when it launches on Monday, March 11.
However, North Carolina is in the minority of states that offer no prohibitions whatsoever on player-specific college prop bets. More and more states are legalizing sports betting with these restrictions already in place or amending their sports betting rules to limit the prop markets.
North Carolina is one of the major hotbeds for college sports in the country, so it will be interesting to see if state regulators are pressured to reconsider their decision to allow player-specific collegiate prop bets as the Tar Heel State moves forward with its sports betting.
North Carolina sports betting includes college prop betting
North Carolina’s approved sports betting bill specifically allows for all bets on in-state colleges and for player-specific college prop bets.
However, the NCAA and several states are now looking to potentially prohibit these types of bets as a way to curtail harassments of student athletes. Ohio most recently approved a request from the NCAA to limit these types of wagers in the Buckeye State.
Ohio Casino Control Commission Executive Director Matthew Schuler last week approved Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and NCAA President Charlie Baker’s request to prohibit bets on college player props in the state.
The prohibition went into effect immediately.
In a published statement, Schuler ruled that the NCAA’s request showed “good cause” to prohibit bets on college player props. The official request was made after months of discussion and numerous reports of social media threats made to collegiate athletes.
“I have determined that good cause supports the NCAA’s request to prohibit player-specific prop bets on intercollegiate athletics competitions because the NCAA’s request will safeguard the integrity of sports gaming and will be in the best interests of the public,” Schuler ruled.
The data is quite clear, Baker noted in his request to Ohio. As more bettors wager on these markets, more and more of them take to social media to vent their frustrations to student-athletes if they lose a bet.
“Sports betting without appropriate controls poses real risks to the well-being of student-athletes and to the integrity of collegiate competition – risks which are heightened by individual prop bets,” Baker said in a release. “On behalf of the thousands of student-athletes, administrators and game officials in Ohio, I thank Governor DeWine for acting quickly to protect student-athletes and game integrity while responsibly regulating the growing sports betting industry in Ohio.”
Related: North Carolina sports betting promos will open with pre-registration bonuses this week. Check out offers like FanDuel North Carolina promo code for some of the top bonuses.
25 states limit college player props
Thirty eight states have legalized sports betting in some fashion and 25 of them limit collegiate player prop bets in some way. North Carolina will be one of 13 states in the country to allow collegiate player props with no limitations. Out of these 13 states, three of them only have legal retail sports betting and no online sports betting.
Of the 25 states to limit collegiate player props, 13 do not permit any player prop bets on individual college athlete performance; 10 do not permit player prop bets on in-state college athlete performance; and one state only allows pre-game player-specific props bets on college athlete performance.
After Ohio’s willingness to prohibit the bets, and Baker revealing that the NCAA will continue to protects its student-athletes from potential harassment, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that North Carolina regulators may field a request to limit the bets in the future.
In its official request to prohibit the prop bets in Ohio, the NCAA described six main points of concern over the wagers:
- Harassment of student-athletes by bettors
- The mental health and general well-being of student-athletes
- Player-specific prop bets increase the risk of insider information being solicited to manipulate betting markets
- Player-specific prop bets may entice student-athletes into engaging in sports betting on themselves
- Player-specific prop bets will increase the risk of “spot fixing” or match fixers targeting student-athletes
- Player-specific prop bets offer college students, who are more prone to problem gambling, a mechanism for engaging in micro-betting
If the NCAA notices any of these problems cropping up in North Carolina, it will likely request the state limit the collegiate prop markets.
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