The growth of official betting on sports in the United States presents a unique challenge for college athletics. A recent NCAA survey found that 27% of autonomy schools have dealt with a student-athlete sports gambling problem within the past year. This widespread activity threatens the well-being of students and the integrity of NCAA competition.
The NCAA defines a betting-related incident as an attempt by an individual to profit from an illegal wager. Those who engage in this activity are considered to have committed an act of corruption. This includes offering or accepting a bribe to fix a game, providing information that could be used for betting purposes, or soliciting such information. Joseph Sullivan, an American professional gambler, offered the Chicago White Sox players Oscar Felsch, Arnold Gandil, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Charles Risberg, George Weaver, and Claude Williams 10,000 dollars each to fix the 1919 World Series. This was one of the most famous match-fixing scandals in sports history.
In New York, the state’s legalization of sports betting in 2019 included retail options at commercial and tribal casinos. In 2021, the legislature passed a bill allowing for the launch of online sportsbooks. The state’s first live online books opened in January 2022, with DraftKings, FanDuel, BetRivers, and PointsBet all joining the market.