Wyoming Gaming Commission Acts to Protect Athletes

The Wyoming Gaming Commission (WGC) has adopted a significant new measure aimed at combating harassment of athletes by sports bettors. The commission unanimously agreed to a rule change that will place individuals found harassing athletes on Wyoming’s involuntary exclusion list. This penalty prohibits offenders from participating in any form of betting within the state, including the highly controversial prop bets.

The move has received backing from several prominent stakeholders, including the NCAA, the University of Wyoming, and operators in the state’s sports betting industry. The decision, finalized during a Friday meeting, comes amid growing concerns about harassment, particularly targeting collegiate athletes. Such incidents often stem from bettors’ frustrations over losing prop bets, wagers placed on specific player performances.

By adopting these rules, Wyoming s Ohio and West Virginia as the third state in the U.S. to impose gambling-related penalties for this type of behavior.

NCAA Advocates for Broader College Prop Betting Restrictions

This development aligns with ongoing calls from the NCAA for stricter regulations on college prop bets. Earlier this year, NCAA President Charlie Baker proposed a nationwide ban on these bets in all states where wagering on collegiate events is allowed. Currently, 13 states have implemented such restrictions, with Maryland, Vermont, and Ohio among the latest to follow suit.

Despite growing for these measures, some industry experts believe banning college prop bets might not yield the desired results. The Sports Betting Alliance (SBA) has voiced concerns that such bans could inadvertently push bettors toward offshore or black-market sportsbooks. This shift could pose additional risks for players while also reducing state tax revenue.

“Removing prop bets from the legal market does not affect the illegal market,” explained Scott Ward, an SBA lobbyist, at a recent WGC meeting. “With the prop ban, you remove a tool from the legal market that could be used to root out other issues like harassment.”

Ahead of Friday’s meeting, WGC operations manager Michael Steinberg drafted a report outlining possible solutions to the problem. The report evaluated the “Ohio Solution,” which calls for a complete ban on college prop bets, and the “Iowa Solution,” which restricts bets only on players from in-state colleges. “We all agree that harassment of student-athletes is bad and something that should not be tolerated. The question then becomes, is banning prop bets going to eliminate the harassment of athletes?” the report asked.

New Penalties Target Behavior, Not Betting

Unlike some states that restrict college gambling, Wyoming has chosen a different path by focusing on the perpetrators of harassment. Under the updated rules, the definition of harassment has been expanded to include a wide range of behaviors, from verbal and electronic threats to vandalism and nonconsensual physical .

The rule now defines harassment as actions, including but not limited to, “verbal threats, written threats, electronic threats, lewd or obscene statements or images, vandalism, or nonconsensual physical ,” that result in “substantial emotional distress, substantial fear for safety, or substantial fear for the destruction of property.”

This targeted approach aims to address the core issue—athlete harassment—without disrupting Wyoming’s regulated sports betting market. By removing offenders from the betting ecosystem entirely, the state seeks to maintain a balance between protecting athletes and preserving legal wagering opportunities.

Source:

“Wyoming to forcibly exclude bettors who harass athletes”, cdcgaming.com, November 25, 2024.