Durbin Questions NCAA President Baker During Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing On Explosive Growth In Sports Betting Since Murphy V. NCAA Supreme Court Decision

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today questioned NCAA President, Charlie Baker, in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled “America’s High-Stakes Bet on Legalized Sports Gambling.” The hearing examined the growth in sports betting since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Murphy v. NCAA struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018.

Durbin first asked President Baker about athlete harassment in regard to sports betting. Durbin specifically cited a scenario where a college basketball player was approached by his roommate, urging him to miss shots at the beginning of the game. President Baker has been an advocate for laws banning anyone that threatens college athletes over sports bets from gambling and banning prop bets on individual college players. 

“Gambling in sports has been a lethal combination… We’re in a situation where college sports are now reaching a level of massive investment for incentives to bring them to schools and betting is on top of it. As the head of the NCAA—representing schools all across America—how do you view this phenomenon?” Durbin asked.

President Baker responded that he shares Durbin’s concerns over what is considered a “prop bet.” He continued to say, “one of the reasons why we’ve been working hard to get all states to prohibit prop bets on college sports is for exactly the reason you just raised.” He continued to say that he has heard from student athletes about the pressure they feel from friends, classmates, and more, regarding prop bets.

Both Durbin and President Baker referenced University of North Carolina star Armando Bacot. Mr. Bacot had a great game in the 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, scoring 18 points and grabbing seven rebounds in his team’s win over Michigan State. However, Mr. Bacot didn’t have enough rebounds to make certain gamblers’ bets pay off. Mr. Bacot reported getting over 100 messages from gamblers after the game berating him because they lost their bets.

President Baker continued to say we need to get prop bets “out of the system.”

Durbin then asked President Baker, “How do we preserve anything that looks like a credible sporting event let alone amateur type athletics?”

President Baker responded, “part of our objective when dealing with the money is the settlement we negotiated with… the point behind settling these cases was to create structure around enhancing the benefits and opportunities for student athletes.” He continued to say that the harassment and social pressure on these student athletes is “not going away unless we manage to get prop bets out of college sports.”

Video of Durbin’s questions in Committee is available here.

Audio of Durbin’s questions in Committee is available here.

Footage of Durbin’s questions in Committee is available here for TV Stations.

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