Athlete Harassment Sparks Nationwide Push to Ban Individual College Bets
Durham, Sunday, 15 March 2026.
After Duke’s Isaiah Evans received severe physical threats from disgruntled bettors, collegiate sports leaders are urgently demanding a nationwide ban on individual player bets to protect student-athlete welfare.
Mounting Pressure on a Lucrative Market
The explosive growth of legal sports betting is staggering. In North Carolina alone, bettors have wagered over $13 billion through eight legal operators since the state launched online sports betting in March 2024 [2][3]. Prop bets, which allow gamblers to wager on specific player statistics like rebounds or three-pointers rather than the final game score, are a highly lucrative segment for major operators heavily promoting college basketball, such as DraftKings, Caesars Sportsbook, and FanDuel [3][4]. However, Joe Maloney, president of the Sports Betting Alliance, recently acknowledged the ‘problematic impact’ of these wagers, even as they reflect intense fan engagement [2][3].
Legislative Momentum and Future Impacts
Regulatory bodies and state legislatures are beginning to act. NCAA President Charlie Baker has formally called on states with legal sports betting to prohibit sportsbooks from offering college prop bets, a move already enacted by states like Ohio and Louisiana [2][3]. Meanwhile, in Washington State, lawmakers are advancing Senate Bill 6137, known as the Sports Wagering Integrity Act [5]. The legislation would allow wagers on in-state college teams at tribal casinos but deliberately maintains the existing prohibition on college player prop markets to preserve game integrity and shield athletes from social media harassment [5]. The bill is currently pending final approval from Governor Bob Ferguson [alert! ‘Pending final legislative action and governor signature’] [5].