NCAA: Match manipulation has never been easier
Ahead of March Madness, Mark Hicks, managing director of enforcement development at the NCAA, highlights the need for data sharing to combat match manipulation and protect players from corruption
With growing interest in college sports comes growing risk, but the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is here to protect the integrity of competition and the wellbeing and enduring success of college athletes.
The NCAA is a nonprofit comprised of member colleges and universities that regulates sport and protects the health of athletes. Our member schools award more than $4bn in athletics scholarships every year, providing holistic support to thousands of college athletes annually and monitoring more than 20,000 NCAA competitions per year.
The enormous volume of NCAA athletes and teams eclipses professional leagues across the globe. Altogether, more than 530,000 NCAA athletes compete annually for over 1,100 member schools. The NCAA hosts 91 NCAA national championships annually in 24 different sports.
Contrast the NCAA with the NFL, a professional league comprised of 32 teams and approximately 2,500 players. With such size, the NCAA’s responsibility of protecting competition integrity and the wellbeing of college athletes is formidable, with no shortage of risk.
As college athletics evolved these last few decades, so has global betting interest. Today, US college sport continues to offer highly anticipated events including March Madness and the College Football playoffs. As exposure to college athletics continues, it is anticipated that collegiate sporting content will further fuel betting interest. But with growth comes risk. More markets, more interest, and more liquidity means increased integrity risk.
Some argue the newfound Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) compensation makes college athletes less likely to manipulate matches. And while true for some, the fact remains, only 1% of college athletes go pro and the vast majority do not participate in NIL agreements.
College athletes are also more available to bettors on campus, and sadly that brings with it opportunities for harassment and coercion. With betting markets flooded with player props and “under” offerings, match manipulation has never been easier.
With no single solution to combat potential corruption, several strategies must be embraced, and funded, by all members of the sports betting ecosystem.
What can be done?
Bringing manipulation awareness and education to athletes and coaches is critical. While responsible gaming (RG) strategies are worthy and important, it is equally, if not more vital, to protect and support athletes participating in games that are wagered on. It’s time that gaming and regulatory industries support these young athletes. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it’s good for business.
Dedicated investigative staffs by national governing bodies (NGBs) like the NCAA are key to timely and detailed reviews. In 2024, the NCAA created a sports betting unit, focused on working with global and domestic integrity services, regulatory agencies, and others to address match manipulation issues. However, more help is needed.
Strong state regulatory bodies also help identify and address match-fixing alerts. But, the patchwork of 39 state laws and processes, combined with criminal schemes that cross state lines and jurisdictions, make integrity policing challenging, time consuming and bureaucratic. While the US federal government has highlighted the importance of sport integrity, its significance falls second tier to greater criminal concerns.
National cooperation standards prioritizing integrity protection and mandating state-to-state and operator-to-NGB data sharing, including visibility to customer level data, would go a long way with tackling match manipulation.
Lastly, the reduction of player prop bets in the college market, in addition to restricting certain “under” bets, like those adopted by betting operators in response to the NBA’s Jontay Porter incident, would highly impact and further reduce the opportunity to spot fix.
NCAA sports are a national treasure. The games, rivalries, and collegiate spirit are an important part of the US and global athletic fabric. It must be protected at all costs. While sports betting increases fan engagement and drives new viewers and fans, profitability cannot be the only North Star. Protecting the competition and those that play the game must rise above all guiding principles.
Mark Hicks’ primary role involves leading enforcement’s sport and issue-specific relationship and development initiatives, which includes sports wagering, NIL, football, basketball, baseball, and track and field.
His work involves helping member institutions and conferences navigate complex NCAA regulations, while also consulting public and private entities as they intersect with the NCAA.