ATLANTA - The state of Mississippi officially dives into legalized sports gambling at 12 a.m. Saturday.
The Southeastern Conference knew this day would come.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, opening the league's football media days here Monday at the College Football Hall of Fame, said SEC staff members have educating themselves on legalized gambling since 2011.
"We've been in communication with and learning with those who work in legalized sports gambling," Sankey said. "We've also been in contact over the last year with representatives from the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and the PGA offices to monitor and learn from their efforts and to stay up-to-date on their legislative conversations."
In May, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 1992 federal law that barred legalized sports gambling in most places. The ruling left it up to individual states to approve if it wanted sports gambling.
While the Louisiana legislature refused to discuss the issue, the state of Mississippi wasted no time approving it.
Mississippi is the only state so far in the 10-state footprint of the SEC that has approved legalized sports gambling.
"Gambling activity around sports is not new, and that includes gambling activity around collegiate sports," Sankey said.
Some of the biggest scandals in the history of college sports has involved point-shaving, such as the one in February 1985 involving five Tulane players and three students conspiring to shave points in two games.
The fallout was so severe Tulane dropped basketball as a sport for four years.
"What is new is the expansion of legalized sports gambling and the increased cultural acceptance of legalized sports gambling," Sankey said. "Part of the positive step with legalized gambling is there's a lot more sunshine on what is happening."
Sankey said some of the state laws call for transparency between casinos and college athletic officials if there are oddities in a betting line that changes rapidly when bets are tilted heavily to one team in a short period of time.
"I think there are two parts really to the question," Sankey said. "There's monitoring what's happening at a state and national level from a policy standpoint through communication with other leagues both at the college and professional level. "And then, there's the discussion of should we be in the habit of subscribing to a service that analyzes our games. Are there strange things that might happen around the (betting) line? We've not done that yet, but certainly a topic of conversation."
The legalization of sports gambling is forcing colleges to work towards releasing weekly injuries as does the NFL.
Sankey said the dynamics of such a report are different at the college level than the NFL.
FERPA and HIPAA requirements, academic suspensions, other team or athletics' department-imposed suspensions and NCAA eligibility issues make something more like an availability report relevant for discussion," Sankey said. "I do not believe this has to happen before the 2018 season, either on the part of this conference or the national level.
"I expect, however, the change in sports gambling could be and will be likely the impetus for the creation of such reports in our future."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/articl...sf/2018/07/sec_braces_for_this_weeks_star.amp
The Southeastern Conference knew this day would come.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, opening the league's football media days here Monday at the College Football Hall of Fame, said SEC staff members have educating themselves on legalized gambling since 2011.
"We've been in communication with and learning with those who work in legalized sports gambling," Sankey said. "We've also been in contact over the last year with representatives from the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and the PGA offices to monitor and learn from their efforts and to stay up-to-date on their legislative conversations."
In May, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 1992 federal law that barred legalized sports gambling in most places. The ruling left it up to individual states to approve if it wanted sports gambling.
While the Louisiana legislature refused to discuss the issue, the state of Mississippi wasted no time approving it.
Mississippi is the only state so far in the 10-state footprint of the SEC that has approved legalized sports gambling.
"Gambling activity around sports is not new, and that includes gambling activity around collegiate sports," Sankey said.
Some of the biggest scandals in the history of college sports has involved point-shaving, such as the one in February 1985 involving five Tulane players and three students conspiring to shave points in two games.
The fallout was so severe Tulane dropped basketball as a sport for four years.
"What is new is the expansion of legalized sports gambling and the increased cultural acceptance of legalized sports gambling," Sankey said. "Part of the positive step with legalized gambling is there's a lot more sunshine on what is happening."
Sankey said some of the state laws call for transparency between casinos and college athletic officials if there are oddities in a betting line that changes rapidly when bets are tilted heavily to one team in a short period of time.
"I think there are two parts really to the question," Sankey said. "There's monitoring what's happening at a state and national level from a policy standpoint through communication with other leagues both at the college and professional level. "And then, there's the discussion of should we be in the habit of subscribing to a service that analyzes our games. Are there strange things that might happen around the (betting) line? We've not done that yet, but certainly a topic of conversation."
The legalization of sports gambling is forcing colleges to work towards releasing weekly injuries as does the NFL.
Sankey said the dynamics of such a report are different at the college level than the NFL.
FERPA and HIPAA requirements, academic suspensions, other team or athletics' department-imposed suspensions and NCAA eligibility issues make something more like an availability report relevant for discussion," Sankey said. "I do not believe this has to happen before the 2018 season, either on the part of this conference or the national level.
"I expect, however, the change in sports gambling could be and will be likely the impetus for the creation of such reports in our future."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/articl...sf/2018/07/sec_braces_for_this_weeks_star.amp
