College Prop Bets and Death Threats: A Campus Push for a Total Ban

(AsiaGameHub) –   As someone who occasionally places prop bets on college sports for fun, a complete ban would be hard to accept. However, we may have arrived at a moment where this idea warrants serious thought.

Providence College professor Patrick Kelly, who recently started a course on the dangers of sports betting, is calling for the elimination of all college prop bets.

“We have college athletes who are simply trying to play their sport receiving death threats,” Kelly told CasinoBeats. “The NCAA has a gambling issue. Every major league has a gambling issue. Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA, they all have gambling problems. They need to act because they haven’t been as proactive as necessary.”

Although bettors would likely still place college prop wagers with offshore books, Kelly argues that removing their commercials from television would be a significant victory. The spread of sportsbook advertising has certainly contributed to the current culture of normalized gambling.

“You won’t see it advertised on TV, and the ESPN commentators won’t be discussing it as frequently,” Kelly stated.

Abuse of College Athletes Continues to Rise

The most unforgettable moment of this year’s NCAA Tournament was UConn freshman Braylon Mullins‘s 35-foot last-second shot in the Elite Eight that eliminated Duke. Sadly and perhaps predictably, Mullins faced violent threats following his heroic play.

FROM OUTER SPACE https://t.co/P8zlAS9KUd pic.twitter.com/RFOb8kFL8v

— UConn Men’s Basketball (@UConnMBB) March 29, 2026

“If I ever see you Braylon I’m literally going to f—ing hurt you,” an Instagram user wrote to Mullins. “I will seriously f— you up and make your life a living hell.”

Consider the venom in that specific message, which might or might not be linked to a prop bet, and then multiply it by all the NCAA games and prop bets available all season. Prohibiting all college prop bets would at least help decrease the number of such messages.

“That is absolutely the place to begin,” Kelly said. “They didn’t agree to receive threats for missing a free throw at the buzzer, yet that’s what’s occurring for NCAA athletes. Professional athletes are a different matter; they’re pros, and ideally the teams and leagues can take steps to assist them with that.”

A new NCAA Student-Athlete Needs, Aspirations and Perspectives (SNAP) survey was published during March Madness. It found that one-third of Men’s Division I basketball players said fans had directly blamed them for gambling losses. Furthermore, close to half (46%) reported experiencing some type of online, verbal, or physical harassment.

Last week, Ohio legislators proposed a bill to ban all betting on college sports, three years after the state effectively eliminated college prop bets in 2024. Will additional states emulate Ohio’s approach?

Kelly, for his part, is working to make sure his students understand every type of harm associated with gambling.

“Anyone following this topic has a solid grasp of the situation, and what encourages me about my students is that now they do as well,” he remarked.