Two-Thirds of On-Campus Students Have Bet on Sports: House Panel Hears How Gambling Is Hitting America's Colleges
Lawmakers heard from campus mental-health leaders and a state gaming regulator about students using financial aid to place bets, athletes harassed by angry bettors and a point-shaving scandal reaching dozens of players. A state regulator described how his state already bans bets on individual college athletes.
By REBECCA HARTMANEducation · Nov 11, 6:39 PM
MICHIGAN — Sports betting has moved from the casino floor to the college dorm room, and on Wednesday a House panel heard just how far it has spread.
The House Education and Workforce Committee's Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development held a hearing titled "The Rise of Sports Gambling on College Campuses," with testimony from a University of Michigan mental-health officer, a University of Mississippi professor, the chair of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and a prevention expert from Ohio State University.
In his opening statement, Rep. Michael Baumgartner, a Washington Republican, said sports betting is now legal in 39 states. He cited a 2023 NCAA survey finding that 67% of students living on campus had bet on sports and 16% showed signs of problem behavior. Another survey, he said, found that more than one in five students had used financial aid money to place bets.
Baumgartner also noted that student-athletes are the only group on campus required to receive gambling education, because the NCAA mandates it, leaving the far larger general student body without the same warnings.
Ole Miss associate professor Daniel Durkin pointed the panel to a 2026 Rutgers study that found 10.8% of undergraduates who gamble screened as high-risk.…