How legal sports betting in NC heaps another element of pressure on college athletes

Playing college basketball for top programs such as Duke or North Carolina, in sold-out arenas on national TV, naturally brings players pressure and draws a related amount of vitriol from opposing fans.

When legal sports betting goes live Monday in North Carolina, athletes face an added source of hate headed their way.

“People are pissed about bank,” Duke graduate student center Ryan Young said. “You get a few fans who are fans of other teams that are mad. But I think it’s like 70% to 80% of people that are mad on social media are mad about a bet not hitting because of something you or the team did.”

Many states, such as New York and Virginia, don’t take bets on their in-state teams. Other states, such as neighboring Tennessee, allow bets on their college teams but prohibit player prop or in-game bets, such as wagering on the number of points a certain player scores or which team will score the most points in the second half.

North Carolina lawmakers opted not to include any restrictions on college sports betting. That makes financial sense, given the popularity of college athletics in the state that’s long been the ACC’s home base.

But it means the schools are tasked with doing all they can to protect their athletes from physical and mental health standpoints, and prevent any betting scandals from engulfing their teams.

Issues related to insider trading have already popped up around the country as sports betting has become legal in more states.

Alabama fired baseball coach Brad Bohannon last May after a bettor, who was found to be texting with the coach, attempted to place a $100,000 bet on a Crimson Tide game using what he said was inside information.

Around two dozen athletes from Iowa and Iowa State faced charges related to illegal wagering last year before some of the charges were dropped.

Just this week, the gambling-watching company U.S. Integrity flagged unusual betting activity on a men’s basketball game between Temple and Alabama-Birmingham that led Temple to review the situation.

On Friday, Loyola (Maryland) announced it had discovered an individual in its basketball program, whom it did not name, had violated gambling rules.

“Loyola was made aware of an individual’s gambling violation that was promptly reported to the NCAA,” the school said in a statement “The individual was immediately removed from the program, and the NCAA accepted the self-report and took no further action.”

NCAA rules, as well as those from professional sports leagues, prohibit players and coaches from engaging in sports betting. Such activity can also violate state and federal laws.

The regulatory enforcement that comes with legal sports betting, as opposed to unlicensed illegal betting markets, provides solace to college sports administrators.

“The NCAA and the ACC are monitoring activity, and they certainly are quick to pick up the phone to call if they detect some sort of questionable activity on your campus,” Duke athletics director Nina King said. “I’m really comfortable with that. The NCAA is looking out for us there. There’s case studies, there’s real life that we talk specifically with student athletes about.”

The mental health impact is another important matter that schools are dealing with.

Facing online abuse comes with playing for a high-profile basketball program. Illegal sports gambling has been going on for decades, so players catching flak from a bettor who lost a wager isn’t new, either.

But when mobile sports betting becomes legal in NC on Monday, it becomes easier for more people to become sports bettors. Spectators will be able to sit in arenas and place wagers on their smartphones on the games they are attending. The possibility of in-person interactions will be raised.

“It’ll add to it,” Young said. “That’s something that comes with playing at the highest level and having the following Duke does. If you’re not playing up to the level that you need to be, people will let you know.”

Like most major colleges, Duke’s King already employs a team of mental health professionals in her department. While informing the athletes about sports wagering’s pitfalls isn’t new, the advent of legal gambling in NC means more pointed conversations.

“Education is something we’ve always done,” King said. “We are doing it more and being more intentional about it. Also, we’re involving our mental health team having discussions around student-athlete welfare. I think it’s really important they are at the table in conversations with administrators. We are about educating the entire person.”

In states where betting on in-state teams is prohibited, pressure-related sports wagering is lighter.

Syracuse quarterback Garrett Shrader, a Charlotte native, said he hears from friends, particularly from his previous school, Mississippi State, about their bets. But it’s good-natured.

“It’s mainly my friends, especially the guys I went to Mississippi State with,” Shrader said during last summer’s ACC football media event in Charlotte. “Because they always put their money on me.”

There are social media exceptions, Shrader said, from angry bettors.

“I’ve seen a couple of them, but I don’t really pay attention to that stuff,” he said.

At Duke, King said it’s important to prepare athletes with tools to handle such situations.

“How to handle pressure if somebody in your dorm is looking at you sideways because you missed a free throw or having conversations in the grocery store, whatever it may be,” she said.

A New Jersey native, Young played basketball at Northwestern for three seasons before transferring to play his final two seasons at Duke. New Jersey and Illinois were among the early-adopting states to legal sports gambling after a 2018 Supreme Court ruling left that question up to individual states. Both states prohibit bets on in-state college teams.

Still, sports gambling’s arrival in NC won’t change much for Young because it’s been prevalent in his surroundings.

He has advice for his fellow college athletes, though, about coping when the added attention turns negative.

“You want to say you’re mature enough and it doesn’t bother you,” Young said, “but that stuff gets to you, so it’s important to rely on your teammates.”

He said Duke coach Jon Scheyer “does an absolutely tremendous job with this and everybody in the program does, of making sure that this is an environment where you can speak up about anything you need.”

Scheyer said he’s not opposed to legal sports gambling’s arrival in North Carolina. But he’ll make sure his players are protected.

“I understand it’s fun for people and overall I think it’s good because it gets more engagement and excitement,” Scheyer said. “But it’s obviously some negative effects to it and for our guys, just to understand they don’t owe anybody anything. I think that’s the biggest thing and just like social media can be toxic, that’s toxic to you or really anything outside of these walls. You have to be really careful what you take in.”