NCAA moves to crack down on daily fantasy sports

DFS remains an uncertain area for lawmakers in the US, with professional sports leagues and government officials continuing to mull over the legality of this sector and sports gambling in general.

In response to ongoing uncertainty, and despite having initially supported DFS, the NCAA has this week taken a number of steps to make it clear that it will not budge from its anti-wagering stance.

According to the International Business Times, administrators from a number of NCAA conferences have written to DFS providers FanDuel and DraftKings to demand they stop offering college football contests.

Both FanDuel and DraftKings have recently started offering monetized wager pools on NCAA football games, where they can select amateur players for their teams and compete with others to win real-money prizes.

Officials stated that they have imposed the ban on such games in order to protect the “integrity of the game”, in line with its ongoing stance against gambling.

In addition, US sports broadcaster ESPN, which holds a host of broadcast rights to NCAA competitions, has this week discontinued its use of ‘cover alerts, which references to point spreads in sport gambling, during NCAA broadcasts.

NCAA official Oliver Luck also issued a waning to various athletic directors that any player who participates in DFS games will lose a year of athletic eligibility.

Mark Strothkamp, NCAA associate director of enforcement, told ESPN.com: “Fantasy sports leagues threaten both the integrity of the game and the well-being of student-athletes. NCAA member schools have defined sports wagering as putting something at risk – such as an entry fee – with the opportunity to win something in return, which includes fantasy league games. Because of this, student-athletes, coaches, administrators and national office staff may not participate in a fantasy league game with a paid entry fee.”