NCAA says daily fantasy participation could result in a year of lost eligibility

NCAA executive Oliver Luck told a group of college athletics officials in Dallas on Tuesday that harsh punishments were still in place for athletes found gambling on college sports, including those participating in daily fantasy.

… any athlete found to be gambling on college sports (includes daily fantasy such as Draft Kings) automatically loses a year of eligibility.

— Scott Stricklin (@stricklinMSU) September 22, 2015

The NCAA, which has a anti-gambling campaign called “Don’t Bet On It,” does not allow sports gambling of any kind when it comes to collegiate athletics.

The NCAA opposes all forms of legal and illegal sports wagering, which has the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardizes the welfare of student-athletes and the intercollegiate athletics community. This section contains links to resources on the history and pervasiveness of wagering in intercollegiate athletics, as well as resources to help administrators and student-athletes keep their programs and teams clear of gambling-related problems.

According to NCAA rules, student athletes are required to sign affidavits prior to championship contests that tend to promote and generate the most gambling.

During the first three weeks of the college football season, ESPN referenced point spreads throughout its college football coverage. On Monday, it said it would stop using the term “cover alert,” but that it wouldn’t prohibit its studio shows from using gambling references.

“We did it once. I didn’t like it, and we stopped it,” John Wildhack, ESPN’s executive vice president of programming and production told the Sports Business Journal. “To me, it was too overt. Part of everything we do has a little bit of trial and error.”

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott told USA Today that his network would not be airing commercials for gambling sites.

“The NCAA has taken a position that we can set the rules, and we don’t support it,” Scott told USA Today. “So that’s where we’ve drawn the line.”

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday

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