University of Texas Athletics Department reports NCAA violations for online wagering
According to the Austin American-Statesman, the University of Texas Athletics Department has self-reported five NCAA violations related to banned sports wagering between 11 July 2024 and 4 November 2024.
The Austin American-Statesman acquired documents via a public records request that show two football players, a non-student athlete associated with the Texas women’s tennis program, a student assistant and an uncategorized athletic department employee committed the sports betting violations.
Sports betting is illegal in Texas, but daily fantasy sites still allow users to wager on athletes’ performances.
The documents don’t reveal the violators’ names, but they show that US$14,885 in banned wagers were placed on the online daily fantasy sports platform PrizePicks.
Under NCAA rules, players, coaches and staff of NCAA athletic departments are banned from wagering on sports, including on fantasy sports platforms.
The Texas Athletics Department discovered these violations thanks to compliance technology firm IC360’s monitoring platform, ProhiBet. The NCAA Southeastern Conference (SEC) has mandated this platform since the 2023-24 academic year.
“The administrator on the collegiate property side, in this circumstance, gets access to the information of the compliance professional at the sportsbook platform.,” IC360’s Chief Operating Officer Scott Sadin told the Statesman. “So, they’ll get an email of the person to then contact on the (sportsbook) platform side, and the person on the platform side gets the same information.”
