Georgia Football Linked to NCAA Sports Betting Issue

A former Georgia football staff member is linked to a list of people found to have committed NCAA sports betting violations.

The news was self-reported by the school earlier this summer and is the latest in a growing list of scandal-like concerns as legal sports betting in the United States continues to gain popularity.

Of course, sports betting in Georgia is not currently legal. Attempts to amend gaming laws in The Peach State have been made on numerous occasions. That includes during the 2024 rounds of legislative meetings. Any and all measures have either failed or never earned votes from the Georgia Senate or House of Representatives.

Granted, this most recent issue doesn’t have anything to do with Georgia sports betting laws, per se. It is instead being reported as a violation of NCAA sports betting policy.

Georgia Football Staff Member Placed Bets on Pro Sports

Though the school did not identify the Georgia football staff member, they did include the violation on their latest quarterly report. They listed the issue under NCAA Level III violations. Here is more on the matter, via the Athens Banner-Herald’s Marc Weiszer:

“A Georgia football staff member broke NCAA rules by making bets on pro sports, the school reported. The person involved in the impermissible sports wagering is not identified by Georgia but is no longer with the program. The wagers occurred in August of 2020, but were discovered, reviewed and processed in 2023. ‘If the staff member is hired by another SEC institution in the future the staff member is required to complete a sports gambling education program/session. And the hiring institution is required to submit a written plan to the Conference office for monitoring the staff member to assure he does not commit similar violations in the future,’ according to UGA’s violation summary.’”

This is the second NCAA sports betting incident for the University of Georgia. Back in 2022, one of their athletes wagered with an online fantasy sports betting app.

Officials considered that a Level III violation as well. Per Weiszer, infractions under this umbrella are “considered isolated or limited in nature.”

What Are The NCAA Sports Betting Rules?

In this case, because sports betting in Georgia isn’t legal, the issue could have other implications. It depends on where the former football staffer placed their wager.

With that said, the Bulldog employee would have been in violation no matter what. That includes betting on sports in a state that allows it.

According to the NCAA’s official website, their rules “ban participation in sports betting activities and prohibit providing information to individuals involved in or associated with any type of sports betting activities concerning intercollegiate, amateur or professional athletics competition.”

That last part is paramount. It extends to betting on international sports. This, in turn, means that student athletes and staff members alike cannot bet on sports, period.

NCAA president Charlie Bakers remains concerned about—and outspoken against—the influence legal sports betting in the USA can have on competitions. His worries are not unfounded.

In April 2023, the NCAA sponsored a survey that spanned more than 3,500 respondents between the ages of 18 and 22 across the United States. Close to 60 percent of participants said they have “engaged in at least one sports betting activity.”

What’s more, around 6 percent of respondents said they had lost more than $500 on sports betting in a single day. That’s a lot of money in general. It is an even larger sum when dealing with University-age clientele.

The NCAA is Taking Measures to Try Limiting the Impact of Sports Betting

While Georgia football’s NCAA sports betting violation featured a staff member, it has heightened the concern surrounding student-athletes. The NCAA organization is not only worried about compromising competition outcomes, either. They are also trying to ensure the safety of their student-athletes.

Incidents in which athletes—both in college and pro sports—are harassed online and in-person by aggrieved bettors have become much more common. Georgia football’s head coach, Kirby Smart, specifically lamented the inundation of sports betting advertisements. Others have expressed frustration with how easy online sportsbooks in the United States have made it to place wagers.

For the NCAA’s part, they are working alongside Signify Group to “pilot an anti-social media harassment initiative.” The measure, however, will not encompass all events. It will focus on “select championships with a heightened risk for harassment and abuse directed” at participants. Especially student-athletes.

This seems like a positive start. But they need to make the initiative more comprehensive. Regular-season games as well as playoff events can incite harassment, too.

Latest Georgia Sports Betting Scandal May Impede Future Efforts to Legalize Gambling

As always, this recent issue may play a role when state legislators revisit the Georgia sports betting issue. That is not happening again until 2025. This will be old news by that time.

However, the violation has re-emphasized concerns many opponents to legal sports betting in Georgia have repeatedly harped on. Perhaps this matter isn’t referenced specifically during the next round of debates. But the risk of NCAA sports betting violations in general will at least be part of the discussion.

To what end this issue and others like it shape the conversation is a matter of course. In all honesty, it may take a major uptick in NCAA sports betting violations for this to play an exclusive role.

Plus, as it stands, we’re getting waaay ahead of the game. This past year, the most major obstacle to Georgia sports betting proved to be division over how it should be legalized.

Many believe The Peach State should require a constitutional amendment as part of any revamped gaming laws. Others want to see Georgia follow the path of sports betting in Wisconsin and sports betting in Florida by simply amending gaming compacts.

By the end of this past year’s legislative meetings, state officials were not on the verge of a compromise or a resolution. So before the potential for NCAA sports betting violations to skyrocket can shape or derail any new policies, lawmakers must first figure out their fundamental approach to legal wagering at large.

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