ECU Athletics prepares for legal sports betting in NC

East Carolina University Athletics is preparing for sports gambling to be legalized in North Carolina beginning early next year.

Senior Associate Athletics Director for Compliance Alex Keddie wrote in an email statement the ECU Athletics compliance department has been a source of information for sports betting since before the NC bill that was signed into law was introduced.

“Since my arrival in March 2019, ECU Athletics Compliance has continuously educated and shared resources with student-athletes, coaches, and staff regarding the NCAA rules related to Sports Wagering,” Keddie wrote. “We have done this through Beginning of the Year Student-Athlete Meetings, monthly coaches meetings, and timely email/text reminders.”

ECU Athletics administration is currently tracking the status of the NC sports wagering law, Keddie said, and will communicate closely with the Athletics Office of Compliance to ensure all gambling will be legal and safe for betters.

Keddie wrote ECU Compliance is developing a plan to prevent gambling addiction among students and other Pirates fans.

“It was recommended at our AAC Compliance meetings that athletic departments should have safe harbor policies related to gambling addiction,” Keddie wrote. “We are reviewing this and plan to develop a policy.”

Assistant Professor of Criminology Michelle Malkin said online sports wagering becoming legal may provide helpful government resources for those suffering from addiction.

Unregulated gambling can be much more dangerous and predatory than gambling that will be controlled by the law, Malkin said, but gambling will also likely become more popular and widespread due to advertising and ease of access.

“What we're gonna see here in North Carolina is this huge amount of advertising to try to get people to download whatever approved apps, et cetera happen over this time when they're setting it up,” Malkin said. “Everybody's going to be compounded with this new wave of advertising, promising free money and things like that to try to get people to engage.”

Illegal gambling often leads to people betting with more money than they can afford to lose, Malkin said, and it would be easier to prevent that under legal gambling.

Gambling addiction is a serious dilemma that must be faced when online sports wagering is launched, Malkin said, and disorders may develop very early on in the practice of gambling.

“The problem comes if somebody gets an early big win, especially if a young person gets an early big win,” Malkin said. “Gambling will affect the brain chemistry the same way substances will and the ability to rationally set limits and think even though I won this one time, it doesn't mean I'm going to win every time.”

Malkin said she recommends betters to never risk more money than they would be comfortable losing and to not ‘chase’ for sequential wins as it results in greater and greater losses.

Young people with gambling disorders may benefit the most from sports betting being legalized, Malkin said, since schools are not equipped with the proper resources to help with gambling addiction since much gambling in the state is illegal.

“If they're gambling in high school and in college, counseling services are not set up to yet handle gambling as one of the issues,” Malkin said. “So where do these people turn? How do they get the help they need? We don't necessarily have those resources yet for young people.”

Junior political science major Luke Dunn said sports betting happens for most large athletic events, legal or not.

It would be futile to completely prevent the practice of gambling, so it is best for the government to make it as safe and fair as possible, Dunn said.

“It’s good what they’ve (the NC government) done,” Dunn said. “Nobody’s going to listen to bans of betting, so it's the right thing to do to help what’s going on already.”

Dunn said he looks forward to legal betting with him and his friends without the worry of losing too much money.

Those who take part in gambling and the culture surrounding it shouldn’t be shamed for their choices, but it is still always good to remind people of the dangers that come with it, Dunn said.

I wouldn’t gamble too much myself, but I get the appeal and why people lose so much money on it (gambling),” Dunn said. “There should be a lot of information out there for people to make sure they know what they’re getting into.”