NCAA urges prediction markets to be suspended amid new gambling scandal

• The NCAA wants to see prediction markets shuttered for the moment
• President Charlie Baker worries that the ecosystem may be setting up college-level sports for integrity failures
• Recent incidents involving prediction platforms and - separately - NCAA athletes who fixed games raise the stakes

As dozens of former and current NCAA athletes find themselves embroiled in various betting scandals, including a brand new one that saw 26 athletes charged on Thursday, the association is responding by urging regulators to step in and suspend sports prediction markets - a type of product that hews to gambling too closely but seems to operate under a different set of laws.

NCAA worries over the integrity of prediction markets

Fears of insider trading have long been an issue, with at least one powerful chief executive confirming that inside knowledge was an essential part of prediction markets, and it would make people manage their money more safely.

Kalshi, another platform, has said that it would show no leniency on insider trading. Now, the NCAA President, Charlie Baker, has sent a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the regulator tasked with oversight of the prediction market sector.

In the letter, Baker argues that prediction markets ought to be suspended until an appropriate system with robust safeguards is put in place. The NCAA has been very careful about insider trading and betting related to insider knowledge, which did not help it steer clear of the most recent corruption scandal revealed just this week.

Earlier, the NCAA did a heel turn on a measure to allow staffers and players to bet on other sports, deciding against it in the end for fears that the closeness of college-level sports personnel could potentially lead to insider trading across other sports.

Insider trading - a risk that needs to be addressed

Baker’s letter is not submitted ad-lib, but comes with a detailed analysis of why prediction market platforms currently pose a threat to the integrity of college sports.

A recent case in point is Polymarket’s denial to pay out bets on the invasion of Venezuela and the criticism that some accounts were betting on specific outcomes hours before the event was publicly announced, but after it already happened.

Baker argues that prediction markets have no obligation to restrict certain wagers or check who the person betting is.

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