Louisiana prohibits licensed sportsbooks in the state from offering prop bets on college athletes.
The ban will come into effect on August 1, 2024, at 8 a.m. local time.
“The Louisiana Gaming Control Board intends to protect the integrity of sports betting and the safety and integrity of college athletes,” Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Johns said in a statement. “We believe this order achieves that goal.”
Prop bets allow fans to bet on the number of points or rebounds a basketball player might have, or the yards or touchdowns a football player might have, instead of or in conjunction with the result or the difference of a match.
Bettors in Louisiana and the 37 other states where sports betting is legal can still bet on game totals, point spreads and outcomes. Prop betting on “full team statistical results” will still be permitted in Louisiana.
Vermont, Ohio, and Maryland recently banned college prop betting, and other states have expressed openness to banning or considering the issue within their states. Colorado, Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Oregon have implemented rules banning them. Illinois, Connecticut and Iowa do not allow them for national teams.
Last week, NCAA President Charlie Baker released a statement calling on all states to ban prop betting on college athletes, although Louisiana’s ban had been in the works before Baker’s statement. Baker expressed a desire to protect the integrity of the games as well as protect college athletes from online harassment that can occur when bettors’ money is placed solely on their performance.
Several college athletes spoke Athleticism recently about their experiences of online harassment from punters.
“Oh, yeah, it happens all the time,” Purdue center Zach Edey said. “Like after every game, probably.”
(Photo: Julio Cortés / AP Images)