Louisiana has become the latest state to ban player prop bets in college sports. On Wednesday, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board announced that such bets will no longer be available starting August 1.
“Our staff began to work on this weeks ago, well ahead of the NCAA’s call for action on college proposition bets,” Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Johns said in a statement. “It is the intention of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board to protect the integrity of sports betting as well as the safety and integrity of college athletes. We feel that this order accomplishes that goal.”
A week ago, NCAA President Charlie Baker said that his organization was requesting that all states ban college player prop bets, adding, “The NCAA is drawing the line on sports betting to protect student-athletes and to protect the integrity of the game….”
With the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments down to their respective Final Fours and the NBA season approaching the playoffs, sports betting has come under the microscope as players and coaches have talked about the stress dealing with angry bettors.
Most recently, University of North Carolina star center Armando Bacot said that despite a strong performance in his team’s second round tournament victory over Michigan State, he still heard from furious gamblers.
“I guess I didn’t get enough rebounds or something,” Bacot said in a press conference. “I thought I played pretty good last game, but I looked at my DMs and I got like over a hundred messages from people telling me I suck and stuff like that because I didn’t get enough rebounds.”
And he did have a good game, notching 18 points and 7 rebounds in a blowout 85-69 win.
“I think it’s definitely a little out of hand, but at the same time, too, I get the point of it,” he added with a bit of a chuckle. “Like if you bet a lot of money on something and you’re like one pick away and somebody messes it up, I understand the part of fans being mad; but it’s annoying, too, at times.”
Both Ohio and Maryland banned college player prop bets about a month ago after a request from the NCAA. Of primary concern is the harassment players face, which, in turn, affects their mental health. Vermont also recently began to prohibit these types of bets.
It appears likely that other states will follow suit, as gaming officials across the country have said they are looking at the issue and are open to a ban.
