North Carolina Bill Seeks to Prohibit College Player Prop Bets

Mar 31, 2024; Dallas, TX, USA; North Carolina State Wolfpack forward Ben Middlebrooks (34) and forward DJ Burns Jr. (30) react in the second half against the Duke Blue Devils in the finals of the South Regional of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at American Airline Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY SportsNorth Carolina lawmakers are considering a new bill to prohibit college player prop betsRep. Marcia Morey (D-30) introduced HB 967 to prohibit the betsSeveral states have considered prohibiting these types of prop bets

North Carolina is the latest state to take a long, cold, hard look at college player prop betting.

Rep. Marcia Morey (D-30) introduced a bill this week to prohibit college player prop betting. Morey hinted on social media in late March that she would be crafting legislation to prohibit these betting markets after a UNC basketball player described several incidents of harassment stemming from bettors upset over his game totals.

The bill comes just several weeks after NCAA President Charlie Baker called for all states with legalized sports betting to prohibit college player prop betting.

Protecting College Athletes

Morey’s bill, HB 967, calls for a prohibition on placing proposition bets on college and amateur athletic event. The bill defines a proposition bet as the following:

“A wager on an individual action, statistic, occurrence, or nonoccurrence to be determined during a sporting event and includes any such action, statistic, occurrence, or nonoccurrence that does not directly affect the final outcome of the sporting event to which it relates.”

Her bill also would prohibit in-person sportsbooks located at a sports facility to accept bets eight hours before or during any college sports event. In-person sports betting has yet to kickoff in North Carolina, but this prohibition could affect a potential sportsbook at PNC Arena, where NC State basketball hosts its home games.

Sen. Julie Mayfield (D-59) filed an identical companion bill, SB 788, in the Senate.

Morey announced on X in late March that she would seek to adjust North Carolina’s sports betting rules to prohibit the bet types. North Carolina launched sports betting on March 11, just prior to the start of the NCAA men and women’s basketball tournaments.

“It’s time to adjust the sports betting law to disallow ‘prop’ bets on individual player’s performances. Athlete harassment is not worth gamblers’ ire,” she said on the social media site.

She pointed to an incident where a former UNC men’s basketball player, Armando Bacot, described severe harassment from sports bettors on social media and in-person when they would lose a prop bet based on his performance.

“It’s terrible,” Bacot told WRAL.com during the NCAA Tournament. “Even at the last game, I guess I didn’t get enough rebounds or something. I thought I played pretty good last game, but I looked at my (direct messages), and I got, like, over 100 messages from people telling me I sucked and stuff like that because I didn’t get enough rebounds.”

If approved, the bill would go into effect on July 1, 2024.

Several States Have Already Banned These Props

Most recently, Louisiana announced it would take steps to ban prop bets on individual college athletes. The Louisiana Gaming Control Board officially signed an order into law earlier this month to prohibit college player prop bets based on an individual college athlete’s performance or statistics beginning Aug. 1 at 8 a.m.

College proposition bets based on full team statistical results will still be permitted in the state.

Ronnie S. Johns, chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, explained in notice to the media that the new order will protect the integrity of Louisiana sports betting.

“Our staff began to work on this weeks ago, well ahead of the NCAA’s call for action on college proposition bets. It is the intention of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board to protect the integrity of sports betting as well as the safety and integrity of college athletes. We feel that this order accomplishes that goal,” he said.

Baker and the NCAA started their push to ban player props on individual college athletes earlier this year as a way to protect student-athletes from harassment stemming from bettors wagering on collegiate prop bets. Baker said the NCAA hopes to institute a country-wide ban on college player prop bets to “protect student-athletes and to protect the integrity of the game.”

New Jersey lawmakers are also looking at a potential ban. Sen. Kristin M. Corrado (R-40) introduced S3080, a bill to prohibit sports betting operators from offering “player-specific proposition bets on college sports.”

Corrado introduced S3080 to the Senate last month and the bill was referred to the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee. According to the legislation, the new law would require the following:

“A sports wagering licensee shall not offer or accept any wager on a player-specific proposition bet on any collegiate sport or athletic event.”

Ohio, Vermont, and Maryland have also taken steps in the last two months to limit college player prop bet markets.