An NCAA gambling data deal has raised some eyebrows from public health advocates.
In exchange for some restrictions on player prop bets, the NCAA has agreed to sell its data that will help the sports gambling industry bolster in-game wagering on popular college events.
Under a partnership with sports data distributor Genius Sports, the NCAA makes the NFL-backed tech company the exclusive distributor of NCAA data to state-sanctioned sportsbooks, such as DraftKings and FanDuel.
The deal includes all post-season tournaments, including March Madness, through the year 2032. The deal’s financial terms were not disclosed in a late April press release.
Sports betting apps will have “fast” and “accurate” data from NCAA sporting events. The official data feed will help the gambling industry increase the amount of money bet in-game (known as the handle) and the hold percentage against users.
As a result, problem gambling involving NCAA games could intensify.
Data ‘Deal with the Devil’ for Game Integrity?
Sportsbooks with access to the official NCAA data will be barred from certain prop bets that the NCAA has sought to have banned in the form of state legislation or federal policy.
The deal is “a first-of-its-kind ban on high-risk proposition bets, specifically underperformance wagers, negative outcome bets and wagers on injuries, officials’ decisions or fan-voted awards,” Tim Buckley, NCAA senior vice president of external affairs, said in a statement.
In September 2025, the NCAA banned several athletes related to “under” wagers.
Many sports betting states already restrict the bet types that the NCAA-Genius Sports deal prohibits. However, the commercial deal gives the NCAA some nationwide control.
For obvious financial reasons, the NCAA’s top concern is game integrity. Compromised games could damage the reputation of the NCAA’s valuable product as “fixed” or “rigged.” Many sports fans already dabble in conspiracy theories about games.
“NCAA data will only be available to sportsbooks if they remove risky bets from their platforms and agree to fully cooperate with NCAA investigations and provide key information, including geolocation data and device records,” Buckley said. “The NCAA retains the right to terminate any sportsbook data license if integrity protections are violated.”
Secondly, the NCAA seeks to curb the harassment of and threats towards athletes and coaches. Abuse has increased alongside state-sanctioned sports gambling.
More Harm Under NCAA Gambling Deal?
The NCAA is also working to address gambling addiction among student-athletes. However, addiction among the general public will grow under the data deal with Genius Sports, according to the Public Health Advocacy Institute.
Studies show that 30-40% of online sports bettors experience problem gambling, with as many as 70% of online sports bettors who wager at least once a month experiencing harm.
“The purpose of this deal is to enable the gambling industry to offer AI-driven micro-betting on college sports,” said the PHAI in a press release.
Micro-betting — such as betting on whether a single pitch will be a ball or strike — is a highly addictive form of gambling. All forms of sports betting can be addictive, but industry critics warn that micro-betting, intensified by machine learning, is especially dangerous.
Dr. Harry Levant, Director of Gambling Policy at PHAI, said that the NCAA is “recklessly claiming” that the sale of data will reduce the risks associated with player prop betting.
“People will now wager on virtually everything that college players do in each game,” Levant, a proponent of the federal SAFE Bet Act, said. “To justify this, the NCAA claims the money from selling data will fund education programs. This is the equivalent of the tobacco industry offering the non-stop sale of cigarettes and then using the revenue to fund education programs. The justification offered by the NCAA is disingenuous at best.”
Mark Gottlieb, Executive Director of PHAI, also criticized the NCAA’s partnership.
“The NCAA missed an opportunity to take a leadership position in the burgeoning movement to bring comprehensive public health reform to the gambling industry,” he said. “The public health movement is focused on regulating gambling as an addictive product. The NCAA chose to take gambling industry money.”
NCAA: Not ‘Promoting Gambling’ in Data Deal
In a statement to ESPN, the NCAA distanced itself from what it referred to as gambling promotion. Policies around gambling advertisements remain in place, the group stressed.
“Nothing we’ve done within this data deal suggests that we’re promoting betting in any way,” Clint Hangebrauck, the NCAA’s managing director of enterprise risk management, told ESPN. “We still have strict restrictions against advertisements and sponsorships associated with our championships. This isn’t about promoting betting.”
Despite the deal, the NCAA remains more separate from the gambling industry than the major pro sports leagues. Still, the NCAA’s boundaries appear to be eroding.
Waving the White Flag?
Levant predicted that the NCAA-Genius Sports deal was the beginning of similar arrangements.
“Next, we’ll see enormous deals negotiated by the NCAA conferences to sell even more data to the gambling industry,” Levant said.
Some argue that the data deal represents the NCAA waving the white flag on opposing gambling. Also in mid-2025, the NCAA began crafting a policy to let student-athletes bet on sports.
“The NCAA decided it would join the gambling industry rather than fight it,” said PHAI Founder and President Richard Daynard. “This collaboration with the gambling industry further demonstrates the need for a comprehensive public health response.”
Others argue that the NCAA used its leverage to gain some concessions from the state-sanctioned sports gambling industry.
While the data partnership could help protect the NCAA and its student-athletes, sports gambling harm to millions of Americans will only continue.
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