With betting on sports becoming a growing part of the American culture, college athletics faces a new set of challenges. A recent NCAA survey found that 27% of autonomy schools have dealt with a student-athlete gambling problem in the past year. This widespread practice threatens the health and well-being of student-athletes, as well as the integrity of NCAA competition.
Sports betting is regulated at the state level, and states have established rigorous licensing regimes to ensure game integrity. Any betting operator that offers sports wagers outside these parameters is illegal. In addition, states have a legal obligation to only accept bets that are placed on official data.
Official data, which includes real-time player and team information, is provided by leagues to sportsbooks through the distributor Sportradar. It is pricier than unofficial data, but it can grade in-play wagers more quickly and is the only way to guarantee that a bet is placed on the right score and event.
While betting on your favorite team can be fun, it can also be risky. The key is to remove bias from your bets and consider the intangibles — such as weather conditions, how a team feels in the moment, and the matchup between two opponents — that can have an effect on the outcome of the game.
In the United States, it is against the law to bet on a match that is fixed by offering or accepting bribes, using inside information, or engaging in any other form of corruption. This is known as match-fixing, and it has been linked to some of the biggest scandals in the history of professional sports.