Mind, Body and Sport: Gambling among student-athletes

NCAA Chief Medical Officer Brian Hainline convened nearly two dozen scientists, clinicians, policy experts, team physicians, administrators, coaches and student-athletes in November 2013 to discuss the myriad mental health issues facing today’s NCAA student-athletes, which included gambling among student athletes.

Quantitative Data Highlights

• 57% of male student-athletes reported gambling in some form during the past year.
• 39% of female student-athletes reported gambling in some form during the past year.
• 1.9% of males and 0.2 percent of female student-athletes exhibit clinical signs of problem gambling.
• 26% of male student-athletes report sports wagering for money despite NCAA prohibiting regulations (8% of these males report gambling on sports at least monthly).
• Males who participate in NCAA golf are approximately 3x more likely to wager on sports (or engage in other gambling behaviors) than other student-athletes.

Identified Risk Factors

• Being male
• Male NCAA golf student athlete

Identified Protective Factors

• Increased accessibility
• Policies prohibiting gambling on campus

Qualitative Data Highlights

• Student-athletes report that coaches and teammates are their primary influences, so programs targeting those people – particularly coaches – are helpful.
• Every person with a gambling problem tends to seriously impact a dozen other people: boyfriends, girlfriends, peers, teammates, coaches, parents and employers.

Identified Challenges

• Connecting the message of gambling prevention as a similar concern to alcohol and drug use prevention.

Identified Actions

• Approach the issue of gambling harm as being among a number of things that can negatively impact student health and well-being to help the message resonate with college campuses.