College athletes in the US will still not be allowed to bet on professional sports in the country, after the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) governing body voted to rescind a potential rule change.
A last-minute push to rescind a rule change that would have enabled college athletes to place bets on professional sports games in the country reached the required two-thirds majority of the NCAA's member schools – 241.
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That number was reached on Friday (November 21), half an hour before the deadline for the schools opposing the rule change to submit the necessary paperwork at 5pm, according to CNN.
This vote essentially means that across all professional sports – in disciplines in which the NCAA puts on a championship – college athletes will not be able to bet on those games. If the rule change had passed, this would have become legal.
The NCAA has now said: "After a procedural 30-day period, two-thirds of Division I member schools have voted to rescind a previously approved rule change that would have allowed student-athletes and athletics department staff members to legally participate in sports betting on professional sports only. Because sports betting rules are common legislation, the ban on all forms of betting for sports in which the NCAA sponsors a championship will remain in place for all three NCAA divisions.”
The rule change was initially meant to come into effect on November 1, but as 75% of the NCAA cabinet members did not vote in favor, a recission (cancellation, repeal) window was triggered.
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By GlobalDataAt that time, it was reported that Greg Sankey, commissioner of the powerful SEC collegiate body of schools, contacted NCAA president Charlie Baker to complain about the betting rule change.
Since then, multiple figures inside the US professional major leagues have been arrested by the authorities on charges of involvement in illegal gambling schemes.
Indeed, last Friday, as the required number of schools were submitting paperwork to rescind the rule change, the NCAA banned a former college basketball player – Hysier Miller – permanently, for betting repeatedly (including on his own team, the Temple Owls).
Sports betting in the US has been growing considerably in scale as an industry during the last half-decade.
