Missouri Examining Elimination of Certain NCAA Bets

• The Missouri Gaming Commission is accepting public comments on the potential elimination of NCAA player prop bets and first-half unders
• NCAA President Charlie Baker requested states eliminate the specific sports betting markets
• Twenty individuals were indicted in a point-shaving schemed involving NCAA basketball and the Chinese Basketball Association

The Missouri Gaming Commission is evaluating the possibility of changing its sports betting catalogue just two months since launch.

The commission is evaluating the possibility of eliminating NCAA player props and first-half unders after NCAA President Charlie Baker requested state gaming commissions prohibit those specific markets.

Missouri sports betting currently does not allow any NCAA player prop bets on in-state teams, but does allow for player prop bets for out-of-state teams.

Baker Requests Market Elimination

The gaming commission began accepting public comments on the proposal on Jan. 16 and will continue to do so until the end of the day.

The Missouri Gaming Commission began its evaluation of the two markets after receiving an official request from Baker on Jan. 15. The NCAA sent the request to gaming commissions throughout the country after news broke that 20 individuals were indicted for their alleged roles in fixing NCAA basketball games and Chinese Basketball Association games.

“Following the federal indictments today involving basketball integrity issues, the NCAA reiterates our deep concerns about the dangers collegiate sports betting poses to the health, safety and well-being of over 550,000 student-athletes and to the integrity of NCAA competitions. To better protect student-athletes, game officials and competitions, state laws and regulations must be amended to remove the types of bets we know are being manipulated,” Baker wrote.

The 20 individuals named in the indictment allegedly bribed 39 NCAA athletes on more than 17 NCAA Division I teams, leading to more than 29 games being fixed. According to the indictment, 15 of the individuals in the scheme played NCAA basketball in either the 2023-2024 or 2024-2025 seasons.

Two of the defendants, Shane Hennen and Marves Fairley, were also included in recent federal indictments for a sports betting scandal that included Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier.

Hennen and Fairley, plus defendants Jalen Smith, Roderick Winkler, and Alberto Laureano, also allegedly recruited NCAA players to accept bribe payments in exchange for influencing outcomes of games. The fixers would attempt to recruit several athletes on a team to ensure the schemes would succeed.

After successfully bribing athletes, the individuals would then place bets through sportsbooks, wagering against the team of the players they had bribed to manipulate their performances.

Renewing Prohibition Efforts

Baker and the NCAA started their push to ban player props on individual college athletes in 2024 as a way to protect student-athletes from harassment stemming from bettors wagering on collegiate prop bets.

Ohio, Maryland, Louisiana, and Vermont moved to eliminate player prop bets after Baker’s 2024 request.

The following states have some kind of NCAA player prop prohibition in place:

• Arizona
• Colorado
• Connecticut (no props for in-state schools)
• Illinois (no props for in-state schools)
• Indiana (pre-game props only)
• Iowa (no props for in-state schools)
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Missouri (no props for in-state schools)
• New Jersey (no props for in-state schools)
• Ohio
• Oregon
• New Hampshire (no props for in-state schools)
• New York
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island (no props for in-state schools)
• Tennessee
• Vermont
• Virginia
• West Virginia