WOLFERETTI: Is nothing sacred anymore? NCAA is about to legalize sports gambling for student athletes and staff.

According to WRAL “The NCAA’s DI administrative committee approved the proposal on Wednesday. It would have to be approved separately for DII and DIII schools. Those groups meet at the end of the month.”

Ok, so what does this really mean?

It means that college athletes and college staff will be able to bet on professional (but NOT college) sports. Here is what the NCAA had to say…

“The NCAA prohibition against betting on college sports — and sharing information about college competitions with other bettors — remains in place. The change also would not impact rules prohibiting advertising and sponsorships associated with sports betting for NCAA Championships.”

I know there’s going to be a bunch of different opinions here, but to me, this is just another erosion of what used to be amateur athletics. The NIL is one thing, I don’t like that, but I at least I can see it from both sides. But the lax transfer/portal rules and now these gambling rules are just promoting insanity.

I’ll save my rant about the portal for another day, but these gambling rules are wild to me.

Already you have guys getting caught for betting on their teams (or their friends teams) at Fresno State and San Jose State. So I feel like to make it easier, you’d just say if you are an NCAA athlete you can’t gamble at all, even on pro sports. Those apps shouldn’t even be on your device and you shouldn’t even be tempted or in that world.

But instead, the NCAA opens pandoras box again.

Now look, today’s college athlete is tomorrow’s pro. The guy you are sharing a locker room with this year, might be in the pros next year. Nobody is going to coordinate gambling that way. What about reverse? I’ll bet on your games if you bet on my games, and we’ll make sure each other wins with our play on the field.

That’s no strange scenario. I just told you, thats what happened at San Jose State and Fresno State, but they got caught. Now there is going to be this huge, unenforceable grey area. We not even done navigating the NIL landscape or the new transfer rules yet. And now this wrench…

Can we just go back to a sane society where college kids go to school and compete for school pride and a scholarships, and where gambling on sports by actual competitors is off the table?

I know the answer is no, but can you blame an angry old-school Italian for dreaming?

Do you agree or disagree?