Mike Elko explains how Texas A&M educates players on sports gambling issues
First-year Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko recently explained how the program and school work to educate athletes on issues relating to sports gambling.
This comes amid several sports gambling scandals in sports. MLB is dealing with the fallout from Shohei Ohtani’s translator apparently using Ohtani’s money at an illegal sportsbook, while the NBA is investigating Jontay Porter over apparent gambling irregularities. This also comes just a year after student-athletes at Iowa and Iowa State got wrapped up in a gambling scandal.
“We’ve always tried to educate young men on decisions and choices and those kinds of things, and gambling has always been a piece of it.” Mike Elko said. “Not so much just because of the illegality of it within NCAA rules and regulations, but just trying to educate them on the pitfalls of it, how it could take you down some dark roads, force you into having to make some really poor decisions in life, and just all of the bad things that come along with gambling in general and then sports gambling, specifically.”
Mike Elko connected this back to NIL issues. Players have more money at a younger age, which they need to be educated about. That includes being aware of issues around sports gambling.
“Then I think recently, it’s probably tried to, it’s even enhanced a little bit as NIL has come into this thing. I think one of the things that we really try to do a good job of is just education to these young men about some of the pitfalls of having money at a young age. It usually started with the 21, 22-year-olds when they got that first contract in the NFL of, okay, here’s some of the things, whether it’s people coming and try to get you into investment deals and how you sort through all of that or signing contracts and this company is taking 10 percent or this company is taking 8 percent and trying to protect it.”
Gambling and gambling on sporting events has always been a thing. However, it’s now legal to bet on sports online in more than half of all U.S. states. That makes it much easier to lose money and to make a mistake as an athlete.
“Then gambling was always a piece of that. I think that conversations and those conversations have now accelerated because we’ve got 17-year-old freshmen coming in, making NIL deals that are putting them in positions where all of this stuff is a greater risk for them,” Elko said.
“I think that’s, if you’re doing the program the right way in developing these young men and helping them grow, gambling, along with some other things, are now a huge piece of the education process of how to keep yourself protected and do the right things in life.”
The NCAA is looking to make changes in sports gambling
On Wednesday, NCAA President Charlie Baker released a statement explaining that the NCAA is asking states with legal sports gambling to remove prop bets on college athletics.
“Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity of competition and leading to student-athletes and professional athletes being harassed. The NCAA has been working with states to deal with these threats and many are responding by banning college prop bets,” Baker said in the statement.
“This week we will be contacting officials across the country in states that still allow these bets and ask them to join Ohio, Vermont, Maryland, and many others and remove college prop bets from all betting markets. The NCAA is drawing the line on sports betting to protect student-athletes and to protect the integrity of the game — issues across the country these last several days show there is more work to be done.”