03/17/26 08:35:00
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03/17 08:33 CDT March Madness wagering set to tip off with the games just 2
months after federal gambling charges
March Madness wagering set to tip off with the games just 2 months after
federal gambling charges
By ERIC OLSON
AP Sports Writer
The NCAA basketball tournaments open this week and billions of dollars will run
through a gambling market that has evolved from office bracket contests and
illegal bookmaking operations into a booming industry where it's legal in most
states to wager on outcomes or a seemingly endless menu of statistics-based
predictions within the games.
Ads for online sportsbooks are everywhere, discussions about point spreads are
common on all media platforms, and opportunities to plop down a few bucks or
more on a game, even in progress, are as close as your phone.
The tournaments will tip off just two months after federal prosecutors in
Philadelphia announced criminal charges in a point-shaving scheme that
allegedly involved six "fixers," 17 former players and four players who were
active with their teams this season. They are accused of attempting to fix 29
regular-season games over the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. Two of the players
were banned by the NCAA after a separate point-shaving investigation.
"Our antenna is up all year-round," NCAA managing director of enforcement Mark
Hicks said. "If you look at it historically, when we've had concerns around
contest integrity, they happen during the regular season. It doesn't mean we're
immune in the championship segment. We monitor 22,000 contests throughout the
year, so we're vigilant all the time."
March Madness generates more wagering than any other event in the United
States. The American Gaming Association estimated a record $3.3 billion would
be legally bet on the games this year.
The proliferation of legalized sports wagering the past decade has spurred the
NCAA to increase efforts to keep games on the up-and-up. Players are warned
about associating with people seeking inside information about their team or
offering enticements to shave points, and support is provided for players who
may be targeted for abuse from angry bettors. The NCAA's "Draw the Line"
campaign was relaunched during conference tournaments.
Prosecutors in the federal point-shaving case noted the players involved were
mostly on low- and mid-major teams and didn't have access to robust name, image
and likeness pay packages. The alleged fixers offered each player $10,000 to
$30,000 to ensure that their team failed to cover the spread of the first half
of a game or an entire game. The fixers would then place wagers on those games.
The NCAA has no estimate for how often athletes are offered compensation to
manipulate their performance to guarantee an outcome. Anecdotally, Hicks said,
"there is no shortage of entrepreneurial people who look to take advantage of
them for their own gain."
Protecting players from all potential fixers and disgruntled bettors would be
impossible. Big Ten Conference chief medical officer Dr. James Borchers said it
is imperative for players feeling anxious and overwhelmed to have immediate
access to mental health services.
"The genie is out of the bottle," Borchers said. "The ability to gamble, it's
like a video game now. People on their phones, it's part of what sport is. And
then the ability to reach athletes on social media and have contact directly
with people that are participating in these events, I don't think there's any
way you can insulate athletes from the effects of gambling in today's world."
The NCAA and conferences provide resources in a variety of formats to educate
athletes about what they can and cannot do with respect to gambling and about
potential penalties, with loss of eligibility just the start. They are also
urged to report suspicious activity immediately; Hicks said he has received "a
handful" of reports from athletes about being approached by possible fixers.
This year, for the first time, NCAA Tournament teams are required to file
player availability reports before each game. NCAA managing director of
enterprise risk management Clint Hangebrauck hopes the publicly available
reports will keep bettors from contacting players for inside information.
NCAA President Charlie Baker since 2023 has been calling on state gambling
commissions to eliminate individual prop bets, including player scoring. Baker
also has taken aim at team first-half under bets, which have a high integrity
risk.
College player prop bets are allowed with no restrictions in nine states and
with some restrictions in 14 states and Washington, D.C., according to BetMGM
Sportsbook. Such bets are outlawed in 17 states.
Signify Group, which monitors and assesses social media messages to athletes
for the NCAA, said there were fewer gambling-related messages to March Madness
participants in 2025 than there were in 2024.
Hangebrauck partially attributed that to the NCAA's "Don't Be a Loser" campaign
urging fans to not contact players about lost bets. In 2024, about 1 in 10
messages to men's players were related to gambling.
Borchers, the Big Ten chief medical officer, said most athletic departments do
a good job providing mental health services on campus. He would like mental
health professionals available to athletes in real time.
"You think you're doing what your team is asking you to do, and maybe your team
is successful, and then you're getting destroyed on social media from people
saying you didn't score as many points as you were supposed to or you didn't
come through for me," Borchers said. "How do you manage that? It's easy to say
they should manage it. You're talking 18 to 23 year olds, and they still have a
lot of maturing and developing to do."
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AP March Madness: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
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