Sports Betting: Risks & Ripple Effects Teach-Out

From the NCAA’s perspective, Carey Wheelhouse and Clint Hangebrauck explain how sports betting affects student athletes’ health and safety and what schools can do to reduce harm.

Takeaways: NCAA Health and Safety Initiatives

We have prepared a list of key points from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Health and Safety Initiatives interview for your reference:

1. Health and safety are part of the NCAA’s historical roots and core mission, and sports betting presents a risk to that mission. The NCAA was founded in the early 1900s to address athlete health and safety, which remain an important part of its mission today across more than 500,000 student-athletes at over 1,100 member institutions. The expansion of legalized sports betting introduces new risks to collegiate athletics. The NCAA has developed several resources to support member schools in their efforts to reduce sports betting-related harms.

2. Student-athletes experience amplified pressure in a betting-saturated environment. Student-athletes already manage academic demands, intense training schedules, and public visibility. Sports betting can add another layer of stress by tying athletes’ performances to financial outcomes for others. This may lead to added pressure and negative mental health impacts and may blur the boundaries between campus life and commercial gambling interests—particularly when classmates, fans, or strangers frame athletes as financial assets and sources of inside information rather than students.

3. Gambling-related harms fall into integrity, social, and health categories, and they are already occurring. The NCAA identifies three interconnected harm domains: threats to competition integrity (e.g., match-fixing or insider information), social harms (e.g., harassment, coercion, or uncomfortable peer interactions), and health impacts (e.g., problem gambling and mental health consequences). NCAA research shows that roughly 50% of Division I men’s basketball athletes and 20% of Division I tennis athletes report receiving threats or being contacted by bettors—evidence that these risks are not theoretical.

4. Sports betting amplifies the “fishbowl effect” for student-athletes and changes campus dynamics. Sports betting may create a perception that student-athletes possess insider knowledge, placing them in a constant “fishbowl.” Student-athletes may feel watched, evaluated, or approached in ways that undermine trust and belonging on campus.

5. The NCAA is adopting proactive harm-reduction approaches. The NCAA updated its Mental Health Best Practices in 2024 to address emerging topics in student-athlete mental health, including sports wagering and social media. In 2025, the NCAA released harm-reduction guidance with practical tools for using destigmatizing language, educating people about the risks associated with sports betting, and considering social media protections. Partnerships with organizations like EPIC Global Solutions, Signify, and law enforcement extend these efforts.

Reflection Questions

In your daily life, you may have one or more than one of the following roles. Think about the questions that we have posed here. How can you use the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Health and Safety Initiatives interview to respond to these questions?

• Public health professionals:
  • How can mental health and prevention frameworks better account for betting-related stressors that student-athletes may be reluctant to disclose?
• Young adult casual bettors:
  • How does recognizing the human impact of sports betting on athletes change the way you view betting as “entertainment”?
• High school athletics professional:
  • What specific resources or partnerships mentioned in this interview could you adapt for your high school athletic program to proactively address sports betting risks?
• Parent or guardian:
  • How might you start a conversation with your teen about the pressures student-athletes face from sports betting, even if your teen is not an athlete?
• Athlete:
  • How does betting-related attention, especially online, change the way you experience wins, losses, and your sense of personal safety?
• Higher education administrator:
  • What proactive steps can your institution take to protect student-athletes from gambling-related harms beyond basic compliance and education?

Additional Resources

1. NCAA, Mission and Priorities
2. NCAA, Sports Betting
3. SSI Spotlight on Gambling and Sports Betting
4. NCAA, Mental Health Best Practices