SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — New Jersey lawmakers have advanced legislation that would prevent gamblers from placing proposition bets on individual players in college games.
Prop bets on an individual player’s scoring, yardage or other stats are popular for gamblers. This law, if passed, would restrict those wagers to only pro athletes. It cleared the Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee with a 5-0 vote.
Austin Meo with the NCAA testified at the committee hearing, saying these particular bets weigh heavily on student-athletes. Some receive threats on social media if they have a bad game.
“Sports betting is on the rise, and with it, so is the risk for college athletes,” he said. “There is no question they are getting harassed by bettors. That threatens the integrity of the game and it threatens the well-being of college athletes everywhere.”
Pro athletes also get DMs and posts attacking their performance, but Meo said college players are much more vulnerable, which makes matters worse.
“They eat in the same dining halls, they live in the same dormitories. There’s just more access to them than, say, a professional athlete,” he said.
Those opposed to the bill said people who bet on college props can always find an illegal bookie to take the bets, so they argued this would just send people to the black market. Meo, however, said there is insufficient evidence that this actually happens.
The bill now heads to a Senate committee hearing before it would be put up for a full vote in both chambers. It needs to pass the full Assembly and the state Senate before becoming law.