NCAA President Charles Baker submitted a request to the Ohio Casino Control Commission last Thursday to stop sportsbook operators from offering prop bets for games involving collegiate players.

Baker, whose letter was published by the state agency that oversees sports betting in the Buckeye State, cited three reasons for what he called “good cause” to restrict prop bets on college players. Its primary one was the harassment of student-athletes, which Baker said has taken place on Ohio campuses as part of a what it calls a “significant increase” in such incidents.

The NCAA also stated that such wagers increase the risk of insider information being “solicited to manipulate betting markets,” and that player prop wagers may entice student-athletes to bet on themselves to outperform a prop bet related to their own performance. In its letter, the NCAA cited in-state incidents of harassment and online vitriol Dayton men’s basketball coach Anthony Grant said took place against his players last season.

The NCAA is already dealing with one case in which a player may have bet on himself following last month’s arrest of New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte. Boutte was arrested by Louisiana State Police for underage betting while playing collegiately at LSU and is alleged to have made bets on himself for a 2022 game against Florida State.

The NCAA has a major ally on its side to remove prop bets in Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who legalized sports betting in Ohio and oversaw its launch in January 2023.

“One year into sports gambling in Ohio, we have seen a marketplace develop where a number of bad actors have engaged in unacceptable behavior by making threats against student-athletes in Ohio and across the country,” DeWine said in a statement. “By amending rules to focus bets on the team and away from individual athletes, I believe we can improve the marketplace in Ohio and better protect student-athletes from unnecessary and potentially harmful threats.”

DeWine has shown a feisty streak when it comes to sports wagering, having doubled the tax rate to 20% last July in what was seen as a response to operators relentlessly saturating the airwaves with advertisements. Ohio betting apps spent nearly $700 million in promotional credits and bonuses in their first year of operation, which helped them generate nearly $7.7 billion in handle. The state collected $136.8 million in taxes in 2023, with $79.2 million coming after the tax hike.

In publishing the NCAA letter, the OCCC opened a period of public commentary for stakeholders and the general public on the matter through Feb. 12. The state agency has also asked for operators to confidentially submit the current percentages of wager selections that would no longer be available if college prop bets were removed as well as the percentage of wager volume and handle amount of college prop bets from Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2023.

The OCCC is defining prop bets as:

Any proposition or “prop” bet on an individual athlete’s performance or statistics participating in a sporting event governed by the NCAA. Only proposition bets based on full team statistical results are permitted.

Any full team proposition bet on a sporting event governed by the NCAA that, while not based solely on an individual, would on average depend 50% or more on the statistical performance of one or two athletes on the team to determine the outcome. For example, whether Team A will gain over 200 passing yards in a football game would predominantly rely on the quarterback’s yardage, likely over 50% dependence.