UNC track and cross country runner Michael Spragley says sports betting can add more pressure to the already stressful life of a student-athlete. | Photo by Adrian Tillman.
Story by Walter Reinke
Cover by Adrian Tillman
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In recent weeks, NCAA President Charlie Baker has called for states to put an end to college prop betting, side bets on things other than the outcome of a game that are often centered around player stats.
After the announcement, Louisiana followed in the footsteps of 15 other states and said it will be banning college player prop bets.
North Carolina became the most recent state to legalize sports betting in March, just before the ACC and NCAA basketball tournaments.
Walter Reinke talked to a coach, a student-athlete, and a student bettor about how they’re navigating the new environment.
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SOT (Spragley): “It’s a big thing. I know a lot of my friends do it, you know they got their parlays going on. You see it on Instagram, people promoting it.”
The first month of legal sports betting in North Carolina has been a rousing success, if you go by the numbers.
In just the first week, more than 198 million dollars was wagered.
But sports betting has presented new challenges for players and coaches alike.
SOT (Spragley): “There was like one extra meeting. Some guy came in, talked about sports gambling, how it can affect you as a student-athlete. So they’ve definitely talked about it more as it’s becoming a more prevalent thing.”
Michael Spragley is a graduate student at UNC who runs track and cross country. For him, people betting on his performance is no problem.
SOT (Spragley): “I don’t think much of it. Like, shoot it’s kind of cool lowkey. If you betting on me, shoot cool, I’m gonna try to win.”
But, it can add more pressure to the already stressful life of a student-athlete.
SOT (Spragley): “I think it can make certain sports more interesting, so I don’t think it’s all bad, but I think something needs to be done about the comments people make, there has to be some regulation.”
Negative comments from fans are just a part of sports for many athletes, but they seem to have increased since sports betting entered the picture.
SOT (Hicks): “Some of those things honestly don’t even deserve, you know, being put out in a public forum, to be honest.”
Carter Hicks is the Director of Player and Program Development for UNC baseball. Since sports betting became legal in the state, he and other coaches have been educating players about it, and supporting them.
SOT (Hicks): “Taking care of the 40 guys in our locker room and knowing that they’re people and they’re humans and they’re young men that have a lot on their shoulders, and obviously this adds another layer to that.”
Hicks says more fan engagement from sports betting is a good thing, but there’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed.
SOT (Hicks): “It’s not life or death here right. Because so-and-so struck out today and had, you know, four times, we’re going to hopefully, God willing, get up tomorrow and get to try again.”
On a campus already enraptured with sports, sports betting has gripped the attention of many UNC students.
SOT (Justin): “I’ve definitely heard more conversations about gambling within like the last month than I’ve probably ever heard.”
Justin, a UNC senior who asked to remain partially anonymous, has bet on everything from tennis to League of Legends, but he always enjoys betting on his teams more.
SOT (Justin): “It’s way more fun to like, you know, believe in your team or like, UNC’s going to win or something like that and then they do, because then they, you know, they won and they’re your team and then you’ve also won with them. It feels like you’re winning with them to a degree.
Even though he routinely bets on UNC games, he says he never gets mad at a student-athlete.
SOT (Justin): “I don’t think that you should want someone to die, or whatever.”
Spragley, one of the many student-athletes across the state that have been opened up to sports bettors, hopes that the sportsbooks do more to help people realize that student-athletes are people, not just prop lines or betting odds.
I’m Walter Reinke, reporting.
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State Representative Zack Hawkins, one of the main sponsors of the bill that legalized sports betting in the state, said that he has not been contacted by the NCAA, and there are no efforts underway to ban prop betting in North Carolina.
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