A pair of North Carolina lawmakers filed bills Wednesday to prohibit college player prop betting in the Tar Heel State.
Rep. Marcia Morey filed Maryland. Those states recently banned college player prop wagering, a ban the NCAA has requested all states make. The NCAA believes athletes are subjected to increased harassment when wagering on college player props is allowed, and the organization is also concerned about game integrity issues created by prop betting.
Sen. Julie Mayfield filed Senate Bill 788, mirroring the legislation filed by Morey in the House.
Both bills would also disallow in-person sports wagers at college sporting venues eight hours before a game begins and during game play. While no retail sportsbooks currently exist in North Carolina at college sporting venues, it’s possible at least one will open in the near future.
College props not a huge market 4x3i33
Part of the reason some states have willingly followed the NCAA’s request for college prop bans is that college player props represent a tiny portion of the U.S. sports betting market. The bans don’t make a major impact on a state’s tax revenue creation and are of minor concern to sports betting operators.
“I would view it largely as a non-issue,” PENN Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden said Thursday during his company’s Q1 earnings call.
PENN operates betting apps in North Carolina. Snowden went on to say any bettors wagering on player props would likely just bet on other elements of the game like the spread, moneyline, or total if props are banned. Snowden doesn’t believe college prop bans will make much of an impact to his company’s bottom line.
While some regulators, legislators, and operators nationwide haven’t offered much objection to the NCAA’s requested bans, not everyone in North Carolina is expected to HB 967 or SB 788.
Rep. Jason Saine told WRAL he doesn’t want to see bettors harassing athletes over missed prop bets, but he doesn’t feel an outright ban of college player props is necessary.
“I’m not going to reward bad behavior by limiting people who are behaving the right way to place bets the way they want to,” Saine told WRAL.
North Carolina’s legislative session lasts through July, giving legislators several months to discuss the bills.
