More than 7,000 prop betting lines on college athletes were posted during this year’s men’s NCAA March Madness tournament, an average of more than 100 per game.
According to an article in the Southern Maryland Chronicle, reporting by the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism found the tally. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the wagers have “corrupted the game” and pointed to pressure, and even potential harassment, facing student-athletes at UConn and across the country.
Blumenthal, the Senate sponsor of the SAFE Bet Act, said it was time for Congress to enact the bill. The measure would place federal restrictions on sports gambling, an industry usually regulated by state legislatures and gaming commissions.
The article noted that Murphy v. NCAA in 2017 gave states the power to decide whether to legalize sports gambling, while preserving Congress’s authority to regulate the industry through federal law. It also said sports gambling has been legalized in 39 of 50 states and Washington D.C.
Rep. Paul Tonko introduced an amendment to the SAFE Bet Act that would specifically ban prop bets on collegiate and amateur athletes. He said the bill would also create minimum federal safety standards for marketing, affordability and artificial intelligence.
Tonko said the purpose is to prevent harm before it occurs so the public can enjoy gambling on sports and athletes can play without being bombarded with harassment and threats. He also said players at all levels are facing more online attacks and anger tied to prop bets than ever before.
The bill has not drawn universal support. Rep. Dina Titus denounced the proposal when it was first introduced in 2024, arguing that state gaming regulators should not be pre-empted and that betting rules should be handled state by state.
The article said more than half of U.S. states already have a ban or restrictions on prop bets, and at least 12 states have complete bans on college player props. In states without bans, gamblers can still wager on the performance of student-athletes like UConn forward Alex Karaban.
After a bad game in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Instagram comments included a suggestion that Karaban should be investigated by the FBI, a question about how he could be so unproductive that he did not even turn the ball over twice, and a message saying, “He genuinely didn’t do anything.”
The article also said the Povich Center found nearly 500 available prop bets on players from the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team alone during March Madness. It contrasted college athletes with professionals, saying pros are more insulated by support staff and security, while a college athlete at a small school may sit in class with a bettor who lost money on their game.
At a Siena roundtable in October 2024, Tonko met athletes to discuss the problem. Valencia Fontenelle-Posson said she had received direct messages that could be related to sports betting and that friends on men’s teams had gotten hate mail and death threats.
“Because all athletes are just human at the end of the day,” she said.
