Bill seeks to do away with college prop bets on federal level

• Lawmaker who co-sponsored the SAFE Bet Act is back again
• Congressman Baumgartner has highlighted the need to address college-level betting
• The NCAA has similarly sounded an alarm over prop bets

Federal regulation of sports betting is not much to write home about. Following the repeal of PASPA, states have mostly been hands-on about how they wish to regulate their gambling industries, with some taking a more gung-ho approach, others pursuing protectionist instinct,s and others still, choosing a more liberal path altogether.

Federal oversight may still be needed to make gambling in the US safer

Other than the SAFE Bet Act, looking to establish a federal standard for player safety, there has not been much else going on – until now.

As March Madness begins today, a new piece of legislation, fittingly called, Providing Responsible Oversight and Transparency and Ensuring Collegiate Trust for Student Athletes ACT, or the PROTECT Act as the draft law is known more snappily, is seeking to make it so that college proposition wagers are banned on a federal level.

This has already been the case in certain states which have prohibited college prop bets altogether or on specific games. The PROTECT Act is pitched by Congressman Michael Baumgartner who has taken keenly to the matter and argued that sports gambling has been growing exponentially on college campuses, imperiling the integrity of sport and health of young men and women.

In a statement accompanying the publication of the new draft law, Baumgartner went to explain why he considered these practices to be wrong:

"Student athletes dedicate themselves to their sport and education, and it’s essential that we protect their integrity both on and off the field. This bill doesn’t ban betting on college sports games, but it targets wagers on student athletes’ individual performances. We are witnessing a troubling rise in harassment of college athletes on campuses, as well as an alarming increase in cases of student athletes being coerced into throwing games for financial gain."

This is Baumgartner’s own piece of legislation as he is also involved in the other seminal proposal to make sports betting more responsible in the United States, if somewhat centralized due to federal laws – The SAFE Bet Act, which he is co-sponsoring with Rep. Paul Tonko from New York and Sen. Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut.

Baumgartner is determined to keep pushing for important changes in gambling regulation

However, both proposals, i.e. the SAFE Bet Act and the PROTECT Act have so far been pitched by Democrats, and given the current political climate, mustering support from the Republicans could prove a tall order.

Regardless, there is a clear sign that many lawmakers and even the NCAA itself are worried over the adverse impact college prop bets may have in particular, giving teeth to incoming pieces of legislation such as the SAFE Bet Act and The PROTECT Act.

With Robinhood just launching its standalone prediction market this week, the appetite for college betting is growing. The American Gaming Association estimates that $3.1bn will be wagered legally on this year’s event alone.

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