Greg Sankey, SEC ask NCAA to rescind ruling allowing college players, staffers to bet on pro sports

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey reportedy submitted a memo to NCAA president Charlie Baker on Saturday urging the association to rescind its recent decision to allow collegiate student-athletes and athletic department personnel to gamble on professional sports, according to Yahoo! Sports insider Ross Dellenger. Sankey specifically cites the recent NBA-related federal indictments involving sports gambling.

“The SEC’s Presidents and Chancellors believe the NCAA should restore its prior policy — or a modified policy — communicating a prohibition on gambling by student-athletes and athletics staff, regardless of the divisional level of their sport,” Sankey wrote in the letter, per Dellenger.

SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter

The memo originated out of an Oct. 13 meeting between SEC presidents and chancellors, who are “clear and united” behind their desire for the NCAA to reverse course, per the letter obtained by Yahoo! Sports. The SEC suggests the NCAA engage in “careful refinement” of their previous gambling policy rather than a complete reversal of the ban against sports betting, which Sankey suggests threatens the “intergrity of competition” and makes student-athletes “vunerable” to exploitation, according to Dellenger.

“We are equally concerned about the vulnerability of our student-athletes. The combination of accessible mobile betting, financial pressuress, and social influence makes the possibility of personal gambling losses — and the potential for exploitation — very real,” Sankey’s letter reads, per Yahoo! Sports. “… It is foreseeable that college athletes, with far fewer resources and far greater outside influence, can be involved in compromising circumstances.”

Last week, the NCAA formally adopted a new policy that will allow collegiate student-athletes and athletic department staffers to bet on professional sports, ending the governing body’s longstanding prohibition against all forms of sports gambling. The NCAA’s new policy became official last Wednesday after Division III approved the move for its institutions.

The SEC’s memo comes just days ahead of the Nov. 1 date the NCAA ban against gambling on pro sports is set to be lifted. Given the SEC’s request, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors are expected to discuss the topic during a previously-scheduled meeting Tuesday, per Dellenger. The NCAA’s 16-member D-1 Board of Directors includes Ole Miss chancellor Glenn Boyce.

The Division I Administrative Committee, which was directed by its Board of Directors to make the change, made it clear in its Oct. 8 press release announcing the change that the new gambling policy “is not an endorsement of sports betting, particularly for student-athletes.”

“The Administrative Committee was clear in its discussion today that it remains concerned about the risks associated with all forms of sports gambling, but ultimately voted to reduce restrictions on student-athletes in this are to better align with their campus peers,” Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman, the committee chairman, said in a statement released by the NCAA. “This change allows the NCAA, the conferences, and the member schools to focus on protecting the integrity of college games while, at the same time, encouraging healthy habits for student-athletes who choose to engage in betting activities on professional sports.”