With the Final Four now set and March Madness nearing its end, results from a new NCAA Student-Athlete Needs, Aspirations and Perspectives (SNAP) survey shed light on how sports betting continues to shape the experience of many Division I athletes.
Men’s Division I basketball players reported the highest rates of betting-related abuse in the survey, with one-third reporting fans had directly blamed them for betting losses, while nearly half (46%) reported some form of online, verbal, or physical harassment.
Most student-athletes (52%) believe sports betting contributes to unfair scrutiny of athletes, while 55% said it undermines the fairness of sport.
In the press release announcing the survey results, NCAA President Charlie Baker said:
“This time of year can be magical for so many players, but it also can quickly become a nightmare due to abuse from fans engaging in sports betting. The NCAA is actively working to protect college athletes by monitoring abuse through our collaborations with Signify and Venmo, and we are doing everything we can to prevent student-athletes from experiencing this type of abuse. But sportsbooks and regulators in some states can do more now by eliminating the prop bets we know are leading to harassment.”
Men’s Basketball Players Bear Brunt of Fan Abuse
The NCAA distributed the survey to almost 56,000 Division I student-athletes at participating schools between Feb. 23 and March 2. A total of 7,493 athletes from 154 schools responded.
According to the NCAA, the survey looked at social media use, perceptions of betting and sports integrity, direct experiences with bettor abuse, and the effects that abuse can have on well-being and performance.
While the study found that concerns about sports betting are widespread, the results for men’s basketball stood out. The survey shows that 33% of Division I men’s basketball players reported that fans directly blamed them for their betting losses, with another 44% reporting online abuse, and 26% reporting verbal or physical abuse.
Overall, 65% of athletes surveyed believe that when fans target players over sports betting, “the spirit of competition is compromised,” while 62% said betting-related abuse “weakens trust between fans and athletes.”
The effect of betting-related abuse goes far beyond an athlete’s inbox or the comment section on a social media post, the survey found. Among athletes who’d directly experienced abuse, 18% said it took away from the enjoyment they got from playing their sport. Another 14% said it shook their confidence in their performance, and 11% said it negatively affected how they performed.
Troubling Patterns Identified Across Surveys
The latest findings add to a body of research indicating that harassment of high-profile college athletes by bettors is becoming increasingly common, an issue the NCAA has raised repeatedly over the past year.
Last November’s SNAP study found that 36% of Division I men’s basketball players had experienced betting-related abuse on social media over the previous year.
Then, in February, the NCAA’s GOALS study found that 46% of Division I men’s basketball players had received negative or threatening messages from people who had bet on their games. The GOALS study also found that 29% of players surveyed said they’d interacted with students on campus who’d wagered on their team.
While men’s basketball players face a “firehose” of abuse, other sports show much lower rates. For example, only 17% of FBS football players and 3% of DI men’s soccer players reported receiving threatening messages from bettors.
As the NCAA continues its campaign to ban college player prop bets, these findings show that those concerns are grounded in evidence that current wagering structures are increasingly linked to the targeting and coercion of student-athletes.
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With the Final Four now set and March Madness nearing its end, results from a new NCAA Student-Athlete Needs, Aspirations and Perspectives (SNAP) survey shed light on how sports betting continues to shape the experience of many Division I athletes. Men’s Division I basketball players reported the highest rates of betting-related abuse in the survey,
The post March Madness Renews Focus on Bettor Abuse of College Athletes appeared first on CasinoBeats.