Indiana Rejects NCAA Request to Ban College Player Prop Bets

The NCAA submitted a request to the Indiana Gaming Commission to end betting on pre-game college player prop bets, but the IGC has denied that request. 

The request came out of concern from the NCAA regarding the harassment athletes deal with based on prop bets. Several commissioners said that issue—player harassment—is better for state legislatures to handle than gaming commissions. 

The NCAA's petition to the IGC originally came on March 3, ending a 7-month-long saga. The Indiana Gaming Commission banned in-game college player props when legal sports betting launched in the state in 2019. 

NCAA Raises Harassment, Integrity Concerns

In its request, the NCAA said the gambling industry doesn't monitor as well as it thinks. One example was quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who played for Indiana University. He bet on his own team while he was a member of the team, but never on games he was playing in. He eventually transferred to Cincinnati and then Texas Tech, but is now ruled out for the entire 2026 season. 

“Bottom line, from an integrity perspective, it’s easy to manipulate and it’s hard to monitor,” Hicks said. “… We take the position that banning prop bets would be a proactive measure, not a reactive measure, and it prioritizes risk and mitigation of risk over profit.”

From there, Clint Hangebrauck showed examples of harassment: “Yo, no big deal, but if you don’t get 22 points and 12 board, everyone you know and love will be dead.”

Indiana Commissioners Point to Legislature on Athlete Harassment

The Sports Betting Alliance, an organization that lobbies for brands like bet365, Fanatics, FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM, said that the NCAA didn't establish "good cause" for the commission to change the rules. According to President Joe Maloney, banning pre-game props wouldn't impact harassment of players. Additionally, Commissioner B.R. Lane had Maloney speculate on the impact a threat or harassing message could have on a player before a game. 

“Unfortunately, we have not seen any evidence that suggests it has any type of impact on the player’s play,” Maloney said. “…We would welcome any and all evidence to suggest that it does have that impact and work with stakeholders such as yourselves to identify the appropriate solution for it. But I can’t respond to necessarily a hypothetical, but if presented with evidence we would certainly listen and look at that."

Lane suggested the legislature should handle athlete harassment. 

“I talked to gaming regulators in Missouri, Louisiana and Ohio from the last meeting ot this meeting and I think it’s clear amongst all of us, including in this room, right, that we have a larger issue,” Lane said. ” … I see so much criminal activity that we’re kind of like glancing over, right, that has been discussed and uncovered today. We have a great legislature in Indiana and I know that they would want to protect student athletes.”