The NCAA has launched Draw the Line, a campaign to educate student-athletes on the dangers of sports betting and the risks involved with gambling.
The campaign will debut across all social media channels during the first week of the Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, which started Tuesday, and is one of the busiest times of the year for betting in the United States.
Draw the Line is aimed at college students, with 67 percent of students in the college-age bracket admitting to having engaged in sports betting.
“Sports betting is everywhere – especially on college campuses – so it’s critical student-athletes get the real story about how it can impact them and their ability to play,” said NCAA President Charlie Baker. “We know some bettors are harassing student-athletes and officials, so that’s why we are advocating for policy changes at the state level and launching monitoring tools around championships to refer serious threats to law enforcement. The NCAA is doing more than ever to protect the integrity of the game and arm student-athletes with the truth about sports betting.”
The campaign also includes a membership toolkit with supporting resources for NCAA member schools and conferences.
The NCAA began advocating for states to update their sports betting laws last fall. It is seeking new regulations to protect student-athletes from harassment, address the effects of problem gambling and protect the integrity of the NCAA competition.
The American Gaming Association recently revealed that Americans are estimated to wager $2.72 billion on this year’s NCAA basketball tournaments, highlighting the need to equip student-athletes with the knowledge and tools to navigate this landscape responsibly.
