Fantasy loophole beats 15-state ban on college player bets
Analysts found nearly 21,000 opportunities to bet on individual March Madness players, most via fantasy sites not sportsbooks.
The hit
Daily fantasy platforms are letting bettors wager on individual college athletes in states that explicitly ban the practice, according to the Shirley Povich Center & Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. The loophole meant state bans applied to just 38% of opportunities to bet on individual athletes during men’s March Madness. Over 120 million Americans, including 82 million in states with no legal sports betting, could still legally stake money on college players.
Why it matters
Harassment of college athletes by bettors who lose money is among the reasons 15 states ban prop bets on individual players. Because fantasy platforms are excluded from the legal definition of a wager, pick ’em sites can offer parlay-style bets on individual players without tripping state gambling law. For bettors, it means the product looks & functions like a prop bet, while some fantasy operators have faced cease-&-desist letters or restarted as peer-to-peer contests after regulators pushed back.
The record
| States banning college player props | 15 (Shirley Povich Center & Howard Center analysis) |
|---|---|
| Share of March Madness prop bets covered by bans | 38% (Povich Center & Howard Center) |
| Prop-like opportunities on PrizePicks, Underdog, Sleeper & DraftKings Pick6 | over 11,500 during men’s March Madness (Povich Center & Howard Center) |
| Americans able to bet on college athletes despite bans | over 120 million, including 82 million in states with no legal sports betting (Povich Center & Howard Center) |
| Arkansas action against PrizePicks & Underdog | cease-&-desist letters sent, early 2024 (Arkansas regulators) |
What happens next
Watch state regulators, including California & Arkansas, who have already scrutinised pick ’em platforms, for signs of further action against the sites.
Sources: More than a dozen states ban this kind of sports wager — except when they don’t
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