Prediction Markets Pose New Threat to Integrity, Warns NCAA

The NCAA has been actively monitoring the sports betting market in the country, urging lawmakers and regulators to do away with player prop bets targeting college-level events such as football and basketball.

Now, though, the NCAA is also paying increasing attention to prediction markets and the platforms that offer them, arguing that there are few guardrails to ensure that the integrity of the sports, the well-being of players, and established rules remain intact.

NCAA Worries that Prediction Markets May Be Causing Harm

Prediction markets pose another conundrum – they operate on the legal argument that they are not gambling, and that they are not subject to gambling rules. But would that mean that an NFL or an NCAAF player could openly place such a trade on a game they were involved in?

The legality of this is murky and still subject to debate. Companies such as Kalshi and Robinhood are already offering such trades, and their product are user-friendly and available to everyone. Both companies deny that their products constitute gambling, and Kalshi has been successfully fighting legal challenges that seek to prove the opposite.

The NCAA, however, argues that these prediction markets now pose a legitimate threat to the integrity and safety of student-athletes. The association has taken measures to limit abuse against student-athletes stemming from gambling, and particularly discontent gamblers who have lost their bets and have taken to insulting and issuing threats to unwitting student-athletes.

Prediction Platforms Argue That They Are Not

In a statement, NCAA SVP Tim Buckley had this to say, outlining his concerns over such platforms:“We will continue to analyze developments of this market and work with industry leaders to help ensure guardrails and regulations to protect NCAA competition, student-athletes, coaches, and officials.”

However, prediction platforms believe that their products, regulated under federal laws, already establish rules that are meant to protect customers and the integrity of the events that are being the subject of trades.

Robinhood and Kalshi have been able to amass a respectable player base for their prediction market products, and they are unlikely to lose ground any time soon.