The NCAA is bolstering its sports betting education campaign ahead of March Madness.
The governing body of college sports has launched a new anti-harassment video before the start of the largest single-elimination amateur sports tournament in America. The NCAA has debuted its Don’t Be a Loser spot, which is aimed at preventing gambling-related abuse and harassment towards student-athletes. The TV spot is a part of the NCAA’s Draw the Line Campaign. The campaign debuted in 2024 and draws awareness of problem gambling while educating student-athletes and staff on the effects of sports betting.
“The horrific messages we are seeing across online platforms are absolutely unacceptable,” said NCAA President Charlie Baker. “Angry fans are sending numerous abusive messages and threats to student-athletes, publicly and privately, because of lost bets placed on the athlete’s performance in a game. These actions severely threaten student-athlete mental health and well-being, while harming the college athletics environment.”
The NCAA has revealed its new TV spot as Americans are expected to wager approximately $3.1 billion on the men’s and women’s March Madness tournaments, according to projections from the American Gaming Association. The abundance of wagers placed through the weeks-long tournament makes it the largest sports betting event in the U.S.
In addition to its Draw the Line campaign, the NCAA has provided gambling harm prevention and sports betting education to more than 100,000 student-athletes through in-person training powered by EPIC Global Solutions. The NCAA has also used monitoring services including ProhiBet to analyze over 22,000 of its sponsored and sanctioned contests. It also uses Signify Group to monitor gambling-related online abuse.
New RG campaigns
The Don’t Be a Loser spot adds to several RG campaigns gearing up for March Madness.
The Ohio Casino Control Commission updated its More Than a Bet campaign for March Madness and in observance of Problem Gambling Awareness Month.
The campaign launched in 2024 and adds to regulatory standards in Ohio aimed at protecting student-athletes from gambling abuse including the ban on college player props.
