With the proliferation of sports gambling since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAPSA) was repealed in 2018, we've seen a growing trend of abuse directed at athletes, specifically in big games like the NCAA's March Madness tournament, where all 63 contests are big games. But this year, the trend was broken.
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Betting-related abuse targeting student athletes on both the men's and women's side saw a 23% drop from 2024.
Significant Drop In Betting-Related Abuse
For the 2025 tournament, the NCAA partnered with Signify to study gambling-related abuse during the month-long tournament. By using its Threat Matrix AI, it monitored players' and coaches' social media s for abuse.
Out of 1 million comments, Threat Matrix flagged just under 55,000 comments for abuse. After review, it was found that 3,161 were abusive, or 0.3% of the million comment reviews. Just over 100 warranted further investigation, and 10 were sent to local law enforcement.
Signify and the NCAA found a 23% drop in betting-related abuse for the men's and women's tournaments. And with some abuse reported to law enforcement, Signify CEO Jonathan Hirshler hopes a further reduction will be seen going forward.
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"By ing the NCAA in demonstrating that abs can be identified and will be reported to law enforcement — where criminal thresholds are broken — it is possible to see a deterrent effect in play." -Jonathan Hirshler, CEO, Signify |
Don't Be A Loser, Wins
For the 2025 tournament, the NCAA launched its "Don't Be A Loser" campaign to educate the public on the "alarming prevalence of abuse and harassment student-athletes" are subjected to throughout their careers, specifically during the March Madness tournament.
Last year, a third of student-athletes received betting-related abusive messages, with women receiving three times the abuse as men.
While the decrease in betting-related abuse can't be attributed solely to the "Don't Be A Loser" campaign, it's clear that it was a success for the NCAA.
Decrease In Sports Gambling
Since 2022, the NCAA has been actively educating student-athletes on the problems of gambling and sports betting. Since 2022, the NCAA has partnered with EPIC Global Solutions to develop and deliver a gambling harm reduction program. That program has reached 80,000 students across 270 campuses.
Gambling has been decreasing for years amongst student-athletes, with 66% of male student-athletes gambling for money in 2008 and 52% doing so in 2024. Sports gambling has also seen a reduction since 2008, from 23.5% to 21.5% in 2024.
Removing Anti-Sports Betting Rule
The NCAA could remove its ban on professional sports betting with a rule change brought to the Division I Board of Directors. The rule to recind the ban received a near-unanimous 21-1 vote.
Currently, student-athletes and coaches are barred from betting on any pro sport that is also played at the college level, such as football, basketball, and hockey.
