Mariajose Garza/THE RIDER GRAPHIC
Athletics staff and student athletes, including those at UTRGV, will now be able to place bets on professional sports for the first time effective Saturday.
Prior to this, they were not allowed to place any kind of bets, including friendly wagers and fantasy leagues with buy-ins. The change arrives at a time where sports betting is now more accessible than ever.
Bets on collegiate athletics such as regular-season games, conference championships and major tournaments, including the College Football Playoff and March Madness, are still against NCAA rules.
Gregory Selber, longtime sportswriter and UTRGV communication professor, said although point shaving and betting scandals are nothing new in athletics, the expansion of betting to the NCAA can be a slippery slope to further issues that could “kill the cash cow.”
“If too many cases like this pop up, people will start doubting whether it’s like pro wrestling, faked and rigged,” Selber said. “You have to find out what the rule is, and then balance autonomy against the health of the program and of sports itself.”
Molly Castner, UTRGV deputy athletic director and senior woman administrator, said the department has been preparing for this change for a while, and they are “still digesting what it means.”
“We want to be educated so that we can educate our student athletes,” Castner said. “We’ve known this was coming down possibly for a while, so we’re exploring how we can educate our students.”
She said the Southland Conference, of which UTRGV is a member, communicates with the NCAA regarding rule changes, passing information to athletic directors and senior women administrators.
As of press time Friday, multiple requests for comment submitted by The Rider have not been answered by the SLC.
Prior to the change, UTRGV stressed abstinence from gambling, as any violation of the rules could result in a loss of NCAA eligibility.
The department also sends out reminders around major events, such as the Super Bowl, the World Series and March Madness, and connects with student athletes to provide help and mental-health resources.
Additionally, student athletes take courses on life skills and the NCAA has partnered with EPIC Global Solutions to educate them on gambling harm. It also uses Sportradar to monitor competitive integrity.
Sports betting rules are considered “common” legislation, meaning they must be unilateral across all three divisions of NCAA competition. In other words, the DI, DII and DIII councils must all vote to adopt the rule.
In a statement to The Rider, the NCAA said the delay in the adoption of the rule was for “strictly procedural reasons,” adding this was to ensure that the rule change was not rescinded after.
Though gambling and sports betting remain illegal in Texas, UTRGV’s athletic programs consist of athletes from across the country and abroad who travel out of state.
All this comes amid increased scrutiny in the integrity of sports following several betting and money laundering arrests, including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, as well as a betting scandal involving three former Eastern Michigan University basketball players during the 2024-25 season.
In light of this, the House Energy and Commerce Committee in Washington sent a letter to the NCAA, demanding a briefing from the organization by Thursday ahead of the implementation of the rule.
As of press time Friday, the committee has yet to disclose publicly whether such a briefing occurred.
“Given recent events, the NCAA’s statements and the reality that many student athletes become professional athletes, it is concerning that the NCAA is changing its policy on sports betting,” the letter states.
The NCAA sent in a statement to The Rider it has “the most aggressive approach of any U.S. league in taking sports betting head on,” emphasizing the threat of states allowing what they call “risky prop bets” and emerging prediction trading markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi.
“For the last two years, the NCAA has been urging regulators to push for adoption of stronger protections for college athletes and for stronger integrity measures and, while several states have made changes, more work remains,” said Tim Buckley, NCAA senior vice president of external affairs, in a Nov. 4 statement.
