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# House Hearing Puts Campus Sports Betting Gaps Under Scrutiny
- URL: https://www.theamericanquorum.com/house-hearing-campus-sports-betting-gaps/
- Published: 2026-11-11T18:52:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-11T18:52:22.000Z
- Description: A House higher education hearing put campus sports betting under national scrutiny, highlighting gaps in prevention, screening and support as mobile wagering reaches more students.
- Author: News Desk
- Tags: Education

A House higher education panel turned its attention Wednesday to sports betting on college campuses, elevating an issue that recent research suggests many institutions still treat as peripheral even as mobile wagering becomes embedded in student life.

The House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development convened a [hearing](https://docs.house.gov/committee/calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=119590&ref=theamericanquorum.com) Wednesday morning with witnesses from university health, academic research, prevention work and state regulation. The session did not produce legislation or a new federal mandate. It did, however, put a national policy spotlight on a practical campus question: whether colleges are building prevention, screening and support systems quickly enough to match the reach of online betting.

In his opening statement, Vice Chair Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., pointed to a 2023 NCAA survey in which 67 percent of students living on campus reported some sports-wagering activity. Sixteen percent of on-campus respondents reported at least one risky behavior, including chasing losses or wagering more than planned. The [statement](https://edworkforce.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413863&ref=theamericanquorum.com) also cited a newer survey finding that only 3 percent of student-success administrators said their institutions had updated orientation or financial-literacy materials to address digital wagering.

## A campus-wide issue, not only an athletics issue

The hearing’s witness list signaled that lawmakers were looking beyond game integrity. It included Lindsey Mortenson, the University of Michigan’s chief mental health officer; Daniel Durkin, a University of Mississippi social-work professor; Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chair Jordan Maynard; and Cindy Clouner, who leads the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery at Ohio State University.

That framing matters because NCAA rules and education programs primarily reach student-athletes, while the broader student body may encounter sports books, prediction markets and advertising without comparable institutional guidance. The NCAA says it has delivered sports-betting education to more than 300,000 student-athletes and monitors more than 22,000 competitions annually. Its [program](https://www.ncaa.org/sports-betting-protections/?ref=theamericanquorum.com) also advocates state bans on individual college-athlete proposition bets, which the association links to harassment and threats.

The pressure on athletes is measurable. In a February survey of 7,493 Division I athletes at 154 schools, nearly 60 percent of basketball players said sports betting had contributed to unfair scrutiny. One in three men’s basketball players reported being directly blamed by fans for betting losses, according to the NCAA’s [results](https://www.ncaa.org/news/media-center-division-i-student-athletes-express-concerns-about-sports-bettings-impact-on-college-basketball/?ref=theamericanquorum.com).

For the general undergraduate population, the evidence is developing and should be read with care. A University of Michigan study published online in October surveyed 1,489 undergraduates at one large public university. Ten percent reported sports betting or gambling beyond one-time events. Among that group, 38 percent screened positive for potential problem gambling, while 38 percent reported placing a bet during class or work. The authors cautioned that the study came from one institution, had a low response rate and used a slightly modified screening tool, so its percentages should not be treated as national prevalence estimates. Still, the [study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42885879/?ref=theamericanquorum.com) underscores how a small overall share of bettors can contain a substantial group at risk.

## Colleges are still building a response

A separate national Student Voice survey conducted in October reached 5,034 students at 310 mostly public colleges. Fifteen percent said they had participated in online sports betting, prediction markets or other digital wagering since enrolling. The rate was 25 percent among men. Nearly half of male students and one-third of female students agreed at least somewhat that their institution was underresponding. Among 271 student-success administrators surveyed separately, 56 percent said their division did not view or track wagering as a high-priority problem; 24 percent were unsure of their institution’s approach. Those [findings](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/health-wellness/2026/10/30/new-data-digital-wagering-higher-ed?ref=theamericanquorum.com) measure perceptions, not diagnoses, but they expose a gap between student concern and institutional monitoring.

Wednesday’s hearing also surfaced state-level options. Massachusetts bars sports-wagering accounts for people under 21, restricts advertising and wagers involving in-state college teams, and prohibits individual college-player prop bets. Maynard’s commission said he would describe those safeguards and the state’s prevention initiatives as a possible resource for lawmakers and colleges. The commission’s [overview](https://massgaming.com/blog-post/chair-jordan-maynard-to-testify-before-congress-on-efforts-to-protect-youth-from-sports-gambling-related-harms/?ref=theamericanquorum.com) presents a regulatory model, not proof that any one measure eliminates harm.

The policy question now spans multiple offices on campus. Counseling centers may need screening and referral protocols; orientation teams may need basic risk education; financial-aid and student-success staff may need guidance for recognizing wagering-related distress; athletics departments must address harassment and integrity threats; and institutional researchers need locally credible data. The hearing created no immediate compliance obligation, but it made clear that lawmakers are beginning to judge campus preparedness against a rapidly expanding digital market.

## The Educator's Takeaway

For college leaders, the most immediate implication is not a new federal rule but a widening evidence and readiness gap. Institutions can distinguish between student-athlete compliance education and prevention for the whole student body, then determine whether existing health, orientation, financial-literacy and crisis-response systems address wagering at all. The research does not support assuming every student who bets has a disorder, and single-campus estimates should not be generalized nationally. It does support treating sports betting as a student-success and health issue rather than only an athletics concern. Wednesday’s hearing increases the likelihood of further federal scrutiny, but colleges do not need to wait for legislation to inventory their policies, referral pathways and data collection. The neutral benchmark is whether students can recognize risk, find confidential help and understand how betting losses can intersect with academic progress and basic needs.