At the Southeastern Conference’s annual Media Days, Commissioner Greg Sankey said athletes’ mental health should be considered in regard to legalized sports betting. “We’re seeing trends in the mental health area that should cause us all to pause before these ideas around specific event betting within college sports are allowed to take place. And I’m talking about, for example, whether a field goal is made or missed, whether a 3-point try is successful. Is a pitched ball a strike or a ball? That pause should happen before any of these types of activities take place.”
He added, “The perspectives on mental health represent not a ripple of change, but a wave of new reality, which faces all of us in intercollegiate athletics and higher education. It may be ideal for us not to experience any expansion in sports gambling.”
However, Sankey noted, “The SEC presidents and chancellors have expressed strong support for NCAA national office efforts to seek federal legislation that will regulate sports gambling. Ideally, there would be uniformed practices applicable across states throughout the country governing gambling on college sports, particularly eliminating specific in-game betting and proposition belts on college sports.”
