As legal betting expands, gambling among college athletes persists underground

Happy weekend.

Thanks for stopping by NIL Wire. For your Saturday reading, we have some insight into college sports gambling, Trump’s executive order and the Wisconsin governor helping the University of Wisconsin’s NIL/rev share bottom line.

If golf is your thing, enjoy the Masters. We will be back next week with compelling content.

— Kyle

THE BIG 3

Inside the hidden world of gambling in college athletics

Sports betting isn’t just something you see in commercials anymore – it’s everywhere. As more states legalize it year after year, placing a wager has become as normal as ordering food on your phone. The cultural shift has prompted NCAA president Charlie Baker to highlight the risks of sports betting, turning it into a major focus of his tenure.

Research from the National Council on Problem Gambling shows that one in three adults between 21 and 44 placed a bet before they were even legally allowed to. Compare that to just 11 percent of people over 55. Among college students, researchers estimate that 75 percent of students have gambled in the past year, with nearly one in five doing it regularly.

A recent report from Front Office Sports pulled back the curtain on just how common gambling is among college athletes, even though it isn’t legal. One anonymous Big East soccer player put it simply: “A lot of us did it.” He typically put down at least $20, sometimes ramping up to $200 during the NCAA tournament and NFL playoffs. 

Like a lot of bettors, he experienced both sides of it. There were wins of several hundred dollars, and even $3,000 in winnings on live bets. But there were also steep losses of as much as $600. Most of the action ran through underground betting circles, often tied to social groups like fraternities. Bets were settled later through payment apps. 

For some athletes, it comes down to money. An Ivy League basketball player pointed out that limited financial support makes gambling an attractive way to make money. A Columbia basketball player won $10,000, but losses also piled up, leading him to delete all of his gambling-related apps. 

There have already been multiple cases of college athletes facing consequences for gambling, including a major point-shaving scandal in men’s basketball. And while rules are in place, enforcing them is another story. Many schools don’t have the tools to track suspicious betting activity, and compliance officials admit that while gambling likely happens often, it’s rarely caught.

The easy access, financial pressure and limited oversight create a risky environment. 

Architect of NCAA transfer lawsuit doubts Trump order will hold up

The Tennessee Republican who helped dismantle the NCAA’s transfer rules is now raising doubts about President Trump’s effort to restore them.

Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, who successfully sued the NCAA over athlete transfer restrictions in 2023, says Trump’s recent executive order targeting college athletics is unlikely to survive a legal challenge. The order would effectively roll back the open transfer market Skrmetti helped create, reimposing limits that once allowed athletes to transfer freely only once every five years.

Skrmetti's lawsuit, filed alongside a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general, argued that restricting transfers unfairly limited athletes’ opportunities, including their ability to earn NIL income. A 2024 settlement opened the door for penalty-free transfers. Trump’s order seeks to close it.

The attorney general told USA Today he views the order as “well-intentioned,” particularly its goal of bringing structure to what many consider a chaotic system. But he was blunt about its legal footing: constitutional limits on executive authority make it a poor candidate to withstand court scrutiny. Its more realistic impact, he suggested, may be pressuring Congress to finally act.

Congress has spent years failing to agree on a framework for college sports regulation, leaving the system to be shaped by a patchwork of court rulings, NCAA policy and executive action. An executive order, without supporting legislation, carries little enforceable weight on its own. The order does threaten to withhold federal funding from noncompliant schools, a legally dubious but politically potent tool. Few universities want to become the test case that challenges it and risks losing money in the process, even if they doubt it would hold up in court.

Sports attorney Darren Heitner characterized the situation as uncertain but not yet disruptive. Athletes currently in transfer windows may not feel the immediate effects, but the specter of shifting rules could complicate future decisions.

Skrmetti has defended the original lawsuit, noting the asymmetry at the heart of the old system: athletes faced strict movement restrictions while coaches faced none. Still, he has been candid about the results. The landscape that followed is a “train wreck.”

The NCAA, long a proponent of stricter transfer rules, may see the executive order as cover to reimpose them. But those same restrictions were already challenged and blocked by federal courts. Without new legislation, reinstating them would likely mean relitigating the same battles with uncertain results.

Wisconsin governor signs NIL bill aimed at strengthening Badgers

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a new NIL bill into law Wednesday, giving the University of Wisconsin another tool to adapt to the rapidly evolving landscape of college athletics. The legislation is intended to help Wisconsin remain competitive as schools nationwide adjust to direct athlete compensation, revenue sharing and an NIL marketplace that has transformed roster building in football and men’s basketball.

A key component of the bill is new state funding to cover athletic facility debt service. Under the law, UW-Madison will receive $14.6 million annually, while UW–Milwaukee and UW–Green Bay will each receive $200,000. Evers used a partial veto to clarify that the funding is specifically for existing debt service, rather than broader maintenance. By offsetting some facility costs, Wisconsin can redirect athletic funds at a time when major programs face increasing pressure to compensate athletes more directly.

The law also formalizes several NIL-related policies for University of Wisconsin schools. It exempts NIL contracts and revenue-sharing details from the state’s open records law, an approach supporters say protects athlete privacy and prevents competitors from gaining insight into Wisconsin’s financial strategies. The measure also specifies that athletes receiving NIL compensation through the university are not considered employees of the UW System.

The bill faced some resistance, passing overwhelmingly in the Assembly with a 95–1 vote but narrowly cleared the Senate 17–16 before reaching Evers’ desk. Its passage represents a significant step for Wisconsin athletics. As college sports become increasingly driven by money, contracts and infrastructure, the Badgers now have a legal framework designed to provide greater flexibility in the NIL era.

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VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Spending = winning. Same as it ever was.

Am I the only one who’s tired of this talking point? Do I wish money didn’t factor in so significantly to winning? Yes. But is that a new development? No. Resources and spending have always been tied to winning in college sports. The complaints about spending and its correlation to winning are lazy.

NIL BLITZ

♦️ Michigan AD Warde Manuel said “[What] happened in football this fall is not defining the 99.9% of the people in that department who are doing the right things,” crediting men’s basketball, women’s basketball and men’s hockey with their deep NCAA tournament runs.

♦️ Michigan State coach Pat Fitzgerald sat down with USA Today’s Matt Hayes for an illuminating discussion about Fitzgerald’s dismissal from his alma mater, Northwestern, and his eventual vindication.

♦️ Next season, the LSU baseball team will get five percent of the school’s revenue-sharing budget, according to AD Verge Ausberry.

♦️ UNLV will have nearly $11 million in revenue sharing for the 2026-27 sports season.

♦️ No surprise: Memphis will have FedEx jersey patches. (And speaking of jersey patches, Extra Points has a jersey patch tracker.)

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BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

Does NIL undermine the concept of amateurism in college sports?

• Yes - 88%

• No - 12%