AGA Wants Bettors to Keep Their Cool While College Player Props Remain Under Scrutiny

The American Gaming Association (AGA) has added a fifth precept to its responsible gaming campaign that suggests gamblers “Keep Your Cool” at a time when the online harassment of athletes has drawn the attention of both the AGA and the NCAA Commissioner Charlie Baker.

Relax, Don’t Do It

The American Gaming Association has launched a responsible gambling campaign called “Have a Game Plan”, which now has five tenets after the sports betting industry association added a “Keep Your Cool” pillar which cautions bettors against lashing out at athletes, coaches, or officials due to what they perceive as a subpar or poor performance.

“Responsible gaming efforts like Have A Game Plan and other proactive efforts by legal operators are resonating with consumers and making a difference,” said Bill Miller, the president and CEO of the AGA. “‘Keep Your Cool’ builds on this momentum by reminding bettors that a betting result — good or bad — is not an invitation to criticize a team, official, or athlete.”

A study by the Signify Group released in October showed that 12% of the abuse NCAA athletes, coaches, and officials suffered on social media during championship events regarded sports betting and allegations of match-fixing. Furthermore, college athletes playing in the men’s and women’s March Madness tournaments over the last two years showed that 80% of messages were branded as abusive, discriminatory, or threatening by Signify’s Threat Matrix.

The AGA’s “Keep Your Cool” tenet states, “Nobody’s perfect. Winning and losing are part of the game so remember—no matter the outcome—to keep your cool. Criticizing players or officials, online or in-person over a lost bet, crosses the line. Keep the focus on having fun. Good sportsmanship isn’t just for players on the field, it’s for everyone.”

NCAA Wants College Player Props Banned

Former Massachusetts governor and current NCAA Commissioner Charlie Baker has been on a crusade to convince legislators and regulatory agencies to ban college player proposition bets due to the high rate of harassment college athletes suffer because of them.

“Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity and competition and leading to student-athletes and professional athletes getting harassed. The NCAA has been working with states to deal with these threats and many are responding by banning college prop bets,” Baker said in a statement earlier this year.

“This week we will be contacting officials across the country in states that still allow these bets and ask them to join Ohio, Vermont, Maryland, and many others and remove college prop bets from all betting markets,” Baker added. “The NCAA is drawing the line on sports betting to protect student-athletes and to protect the integrity of the game — issues across the country these last several days show there is more work to be done.”

A recent study by the NCAA defined “angry sports bettors” as individuals who “engage in problematic and intrusive communications due to match events and results contradicting bettors’ predictions.”

Nearly half of the 38 states that offer sports betting do not offer college player props and have reported fewer incidences of harassment towards players and officials, according to Hangebrauck.