College sports are an important part of the sports betting industry. However, it’s become a contentious topic in North Carolina as the state tries to legalize online betting.
As it stands, North Carolina sports betting will include college wagering. Some lawmakers have already tried to remove it from the picture.
The argument is that the current version of the bill doesn’t include enough protections to alleviate integrity concerns. Those efforts ultimately failed in the North Carolina House. However, individual schools in the state can still create extra protections.
Some schools create sports betting bans
When a state legalizes sports betting, lawmakers must decide how they want the landscape to shake out. In most legal states in the US, that means allowing college sports betting.
Indiana allows for college sports betting, but the state’s schools have taken things further.
The Hoosier State legalized sports betting in 2019. Almost immediately after it began, Purdue University created its own sports betting ban.
The ban specifically applies to Purdue’s athletic events. Everyone who works for or attends the university cannot bet on the school’s games.
“The policy bans faculty, staff and non-athlete students across the university system from gambling on sporting events involving any Purdue teams, coaches or student-athletes. The policy was developed at the urging of some faculty members, as well as the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, after sports betting became legal in Indiana earlier this year. The policy applies to wagers placed worldwide and online.”
Violation of the policy can result in firing or expulsion. The idea is that workers and students on campus could stumble across insider information for the school’s athletic teams and use that information to place bets.
A few other schools around the US, such as Butler, St. Joseph’s and Villanova, also have their own sports betting bans. However, these policies go against the vast majority of Division I schools, who opt to follow the NCAA’s general rules instead.
Sports betting bans aren’t likely in North Carolina
Individual sports betting bans are a rarity for universities around the country. That’s mainly because they’re impossible to enforce.
After all, how can schools monitor every mobile phone and computer of tens of thousands of students every year? Simply put, they can’t.
Sports betting bans like Purdue’s operate under the honor system, which doesn’t amount to much in reality.
There’s no way to enforce these bans without creating a geofenced barrier around individual schools.
The companies that run the location services for sportsbooks have no incentive to put in the effort to create any extra location-specific barriers. That removes any teeth from individual sports betting bans.
Because of this, schools in North Carolina are not likely to create bans of their own. Without any way to enforce the policy, there’s no reason to go through the effort of creating one in the first place.
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