With the March Madness Basketball Tournament set to begin this week, a first ever agreement for NCAA sports betting data has been reached between the the Mid-American Conference and Genius Sports for providing statistical data. Representatives for the Conference stated that this could be the beginning of an era of statistical data ownership when it comes to collegiate athletics. As exciting as the announcement of this agreement is, however, Genius’ actual sports betting services are not included. Instead, the company will provide only free-play games to engage with fans, monitor the integrity of the data, and give them the ability…

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has made a major about face on their policy of not allowing sports bets. Moving forward, NCAA sports betting will be allowed on their championship events in states where sports gambling is legal and regulated. The US Supreme Court ruled against the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, or PASPA,  last year. That decision paved the way for states to regulate betting on sports. Sports gambling has been regulated in eight states, with Tennessee sports betting having just been passed.  The NCAA Board of Governors has been a vocal supporter of federal regulation for betting…

A shift is occurring in the NCAA sports betting relationship. After decades of resistance to legalized gambling on sporting events (with six years as the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against New Jersey that eventually made its way to the Supreme Court) the NCAA is moving to address sports betting integrity in new ways. “Sports wagering is going to have a dramatic impact on everything we do in college sports,” said NCAA executive Mark Emmert at the organization’s annual convention in January and first reported by the Associated Press. “It’s going to threaten the integrity of college sports in many…