Blazin Bullfrog

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As the U.S. warms to the idea of online sports betting, the NCAA has taken steps to protect its athletes. Deputy General Counsel of the NCAA, Naima Stevenson Starks sat down with Calvinayre.com’s Becky Liggero Fontana to explain her organisation’s stance towards betting involving student athletes and maintaining the integrity of those competitions. 

Stevenson Starks shared those concerns that the NCAA has towards online sports betting in the U.S.:

“The two [concerns] are the integrity of athletic competition, and how that could potentially be impacted by a proliferation of legalized sports wagering. And then the second is really the health and well-being of student athletes.“

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The ongoing battle between states’ rights advocates and those who support federal regulations in sports trading is not black and white. Carton indicated in his monologue that engaging in the trading of sports-event contracts amounts to unregulated gambling. Designated Contracts Markets, better known as prediction markets, are regulated on the federal level by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

On Wednesday, a CFTC deputy general counsel posted an ad on LinkedIn for a senior position with the commission. It appears that the attorney is seeking assistance in crafting formal rules for event contracts, a set of regulations he described as the “most impactful” the commission has written “in decades”.

The Polymarket ad campaign debuted less than 48 hours before Wednesday’s NFL regular-season opener. The matchup is a rematch of last season’s Super Bowl as the Seattle Seahawks host the AFC Champion New England Patriots.

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The comment period opened shortly after several members of a Senate subcommittee alluded to the rise of prediction markets and the subsequent risk of a spike in harassment cases at a May federal sports betting hearing. The hearing, commenced by a US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee, was held at the Russell Senate Building during the heart of the NBA and NHL Playoffs.

Cruz, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, also co-authored the aforementioned Protect College Sports Act with Washington Senator Maria Cantwell. As cloture motion for floor debate of the act began this week, Cruz has expressed optimism that the bill will be signed into law.

The proposed bill seeks to prevent student-athletes from trading on prediction markets, but does not set any explicit standards on player harassment.