GARDEN GROVE, California --- The NCAA should expand its educational efforts, partner with more outside organizations and increase the number of background checks on game officials to help curtail gambling on college sports by student-athletes.

Those initiatives are among the main recommendations from the NCAA Sports Wagering Task Force, which were presented to the NCAA Management Councils in all three divisions at their summer meetings.

"The main goals of the task force were to protect the well-being of student-athletes and preserve the integrity of college sports," said the Rev. Edward "Monk" Malloy, former president of the University of Notre Dame and chair of the task force.  "These recommendations will assist all of us—campuses, coaches, administrators, NCAA staff—in eliminating behaviors that could be potentially destructive to student-athletes and their sports."

NCAA President Myles Brand formed the Sports Wagering Task Force in 2004 following the release of findings from the association’s first-ever national sports wagering survey.

The survey questioned approximately 21,000 male and female student-athletes in all three divisions and all sports.  Among the main findings: 35 percent of male student-athletes and 10 percent of female student-athletes reported gambling on any sporting events in the past year, which is a violation of NCAA rules.

Rachel Newman-Baker, NCAA director of agents, gambling and amateurism activities, briefed the Management Councils on the task force recommendations.  She explained that the task force targeted its efforts in three areas: awareness, education and treatment; compliance and policy; and law enforcement and coalition building.

"Gambling is very much a part of the culture right now, so the task force specifically focused on the areas over which we have jurisdiction, namely sports wagering on college and professional sports," Newman-Baker said.

Task force recommendations related to awareness, education and treatment include the following items:

• Create an interactive website for student-athletes with programming and educational materials that are division-specific and sport-specific.  Newman-Baker said she hopes this website will be fully functional next year.
• Provide educational programming at more NCAA events and conferences.  Currently, NCAA staff work with law enforcement and others to provide education at the Men’s and Women’s Final Fours, the Men’s Frozen Four and the College World Series, as well as at conferences and academic meetings.  Newman-Baker said her staff is working with the NCAA championships division to expand sports wagering programming beyond the four teams in both the Division I men’s and women’s basketball championships.
• Work with the football and golf championships staffs to develop sport-specific educational materials.  The national survey showed higher levels of gambling for student-athletes in these sports.  Develop a comprehensive sports wagering educational program, or "tool kit," for colleges and universities to use on their campuses.  This tool kit could include videos, brochures, posters and recommended speakers.

The task force suggested a number of measures related to compliance and policy issues, including the following items:

• Expand background checks of game officials in men’s ice hockey and baseball.  Newman-Baker said these expanded checks will begin this year.  Background checks are already conducted for game officials in the men’s and women’s basketball championships.
• Begin a legislative review of NCAA Bylaw 10.3, which prohibits sports wagering for student-athletes, employees in college athletics and NCAA national office staff.  Newman-Baker said her staff will undertake this review and consider possible changes to the bylaw.
• Create a list of campus best practices related to sports wagering to include in the educational "tool kit."  This list would address issues that are not violations of sports wagering rules but could be problematic nonetheless, such as a sports team staying at a hotel attached to a casino during a competition, which is discouraged.
• Re-establish lines of communication with Las Vegas.  Newman-Baker said an "action plan" will be developed to identify appropriate organizations and individuals for future discussions.

Task force recommendations related to issues surrounding law enforcement and coalition building include the following items:

• Develop and cultivate relationships with federal, state and local agencies and associations, including law enforcement, higher education organizations and consumer protection groups.  Newman-Baker said this effort will involve developing an outreach plan that would, among other things, identify opportunities to attract new funding to expand sports wagering initiatives.
• Establish a sports wagering curriculum for not only student-athletes but also the general student population.  This could include education in residence halls and life skills programs on campuses and involve outside organizations, such as law enforcement and other higher education associations.

"One of the very clear messages from the task force is that eliminating sports wagering involves a number of complex issues, and we need to engage many outside groups so that we can be successful," Newman-Baker told the Management Councils.

The task force is no longer meeting, but an administrative advisory committee of former task force members has been created to assist NCAA national office staff in their efforts to combat sports wagering.  Members of the advisory committee are Malloy; Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association; Damon Evans, director of athletics, University of Georgia; and Doug Woolard, director of athletics, University of South Florida.