As scrutiny around player prop betting intensifies across the U.S., a group of NCAA student-athletes is adding its voice to the growing push for reform.
The Big Ten Conference Student-Athlete Issues Commission, the league’s formal athlete leadership body, released a statement Tuesday addressed to NCAA President Charlie Baker, urging the college sports body to restrict or eliminate player-specific prop wagers on college athletes.
The commission framed it as an athlete welfare issue tied to harassment and betting-related pressure, but stopped short of proposing specific changes.
“Prop betting exposes student-athletes to increased and aggravated social media pressure and harassment,” the statement reads. “Many student-athletes receive angry messages, threats, or public criticism from bettors when wagers do not hit. This kind of treatment is harmful, unnecessary, and often relentless.”
Alignment with NCAA lobbying push
The position aligns with Baker, who has been among the most vocal national advocates for limiting college player props.
Last March, the former Massachusetts governor called for a national ban on college player props arguing they drive athlete harassment and betting-related threats. Several jurisdictions, including Ohio and Vermont, adopted the restrictions, many of which were already in place in other states.
Recent NCAA studies found 36% of Division I men’s basketball players reported harassment from bettors, with most incidents occurring online following lost wagers or missed statistical benchmarks.
Integrity probes heighten urgency
The appeal arrives amid a wave of betting investigations across college and professional sports, many centered on prop wagering markets.
Federal prosecutors recently unsealed an indictment alleging a point-shaving conspiracy spanning multiple Division I men’s basketball programs, charging more than two dozen individuals, including players accused of accepting bribes to influence betting outcomes.
The probes followed other high-profile scandals, including the NBA’s lifetime ban of Jontay Porter and a subsequent federal investigation involving Terry Rozier. The alleged prop activity surfaced even after sportsbooks restricted wagering on two-way contract players in response to the Porter case and the league is once again weighing reform.
Integrity concerns have also reached Major League Baseball. After the Cleveland Guardians investigation involving Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, sportsbooks adjusted wagering markets while the league implemented microbetting safeguards.
BetMGM said it could ban customers found to be harassing athletes.
Sportsbooks rely on player props
Sportsbooks may be reluctant to eliminate props outright. Citizens Bank estimates 50% of Super Bowl betting volume was tied to player props or parlays involving them, underscoring how central the markets have become to sportsbook economics.
Regulators and integrity monitors caution that removing legal prop markets could push wagering offshore, where suspicious betting activity is far harder to detect and investigate. At the same time, the expansion of legalized betting has made player performance wagering more visible within sports culture. Critics say constant marketing and the gamification of props have increased direct exposure to athletes, fueling harassment and social media abuse.
While NIL compensation has professionalized parts of the college ecosystem, athletes remain students, a distinction the Big Ten Student-Athlete Issues Commission said heightens vulnerability to outside pressure.
