Steve Spurrier criticizes the thought of allowing college athletes to gamble on sports

Former college football coach Steve Spurrier is not a fan of athletes gambling on any sports, not just pro sports. The NCAA was set to allow college athletes to gamble on professional sports, but that was tabled for another day.

Spurrier said that gambling and any other type of betting should be reserved for after an athlete’s playing days. Overall, it’s not a good idea according to the legendary coach.

“I don’t think it should be legal for college athletes to gamble,” Spurrier said on Another Dooley Noted Podcast. “They don’t have to gamble. If they love gambling, wait til your playing days are over. If you play pro football, wait til those days are over. Then you can gamble all your money away if you want to, but if you’re a participant right now, I’m with commissioner Sankey. Players should not be gambling on any sport at all.”

Spurrier noted how gambling is all over the place too. Tune into any sports network and you’ll see the latest odds and lines plastered on the screen. Not to mention networks like ESPN having their own betting app or others referencing branding deals with other betting companies.

“You hope some of the referees don’t have a brother-in-law that’s out gambling somewhere,” Spurrier said. “I mean, everybody, they encourage you to bet on the games the radio and TV guys. Alright, you need to take the spread here, take the over, take the under. I mean, gambling is, it’s okay for the country, but if you’re a participant, you can’t get involved in it at all.”

According to the announcement from the NCAA, Division I rules allow 30 days for schools to vote on potentially rescinding a proposal if adopted by less than 75% of the D-I Cabinet. By delaying until Nov. 22, the D-I Board is setting the effective date to be one day after the close of a membership recession period, the NCAA said.

The late-October announcement came after Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported SEC commissioner Greg Sankey sent a memo asking the NCAA to rescind the guidance. Sankey called it a “major step in the wrong direction.”

“We are equally concerned about the vulnerability of our student-athletes. The combination of accessible mobile betting, financial pressures, 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.”