NCAA announces support of federal sports wagering regulation

In a response to the Supreme Court ruling earlier this week, the NCAA announced that it had suspended its championship host policy related to sports wagering on Thursday morning. The policy originally prevented the NCAA from holding championship competition in states that allowed single-game wagering, such as Nevada.

NCAA president Mark Emmert issued the following statement:

“Our highest priorities in any conversation about sports wagering are maintaining the integrity of competition and student-athlete well-being,” said Mark Emmert, NCAA president. “Sports wagering can adversely impact student-athletes and undermine the games they play. We are committed to ensuring that laws and regulations promote a safe and fair environment for the nearly half a million students who play college athletics.”

The announcement did state that this is a temporary suspension and that they would be pursuing a permanent revision of the championship host policy.

The decision does not have an affect on the rules that prohibit wagering by athletes, coaches, etc.

As the national landscape around sports wagering at both the federal and state levels, we’ll continue to see changes in policies like these. But for now, states like Nevada (particularly Las Vegas) will be eligible to host NCAA championship competition.