SEC Implementing Mandatory Gambling Awareness For Athletes
Mike Goodpaster Published 30/06/2026
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) has announced the launch of a new custom-designed, mandatory sports gambling educational video that will be viewed by all SEC student-athletes before the start of their team’s first regular season game during the upcoming 2026-27 athletic year.
The video is the latest component of the SEC’s comprehensive integrity program designed to educate and safeguard student-athletes amid the growing prevalence of sports gambling nationwide. The new custom-designed, mandatory video supplements and expand efforts that began with the Conference’s association with IC360 for monitoring of sports gambling activities in 2018, when it operated as US Integrity.
The SEC gambling awareness training will be mandatory
Whether you are a quarterback at Alabama, a golfer at Georgia, or a baseball player at Vanderbilt, the SEC's gambling awareness training will be a mandatory course. You can't be a student-athlete in the conference without taking the course.
The SEC’s mandatory video will be incorporated into each institution’s student-athlete education requirements. It will provide clear, practical guidance on recognizing risks, understanding Conference and NCAA policies, and knowing how to report concerns. All SEC student-athletes will complete the training as part of annual campus compliance programming.
“The Southeastern Conference remains committed to supporting its member institutions and student-athletes through proactive education, monitoring, and resources that promote integrity and protect the student-athlete experience,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement.
The SEC is implementing IC360’s ProhiBet product in 2023 for real-time monitoring of prohibited sports betting. In the fall of 2024, the conference introduced student-athlete availability reporting in football, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball to reduce pressure from outside entities seeking participation information. Starting this year, gambling educational posters are now displayed in team locker rooms at all SEC institutions. The SEC also established a sports gambling tip line in January 2026. This allows student-athletes and other SEC stakeholders to anonymously report suspicious activities related to sports gambling.
Of the 39 U.S. states currently offering legal and regulated sports betting, seven include schools with teams in the SEC. All 12 states that are home to SEC schools have access to prediction markets.
Sports betting is very popular on college campuses
The evidence of just how much sports betting has infiltrated campus life is playing a role in this SEC-mandated gambling education initiative.
A recent national study displayed that approximately 58% of 18-to-22-year-olds have engaged in at least one sports betting activity. Limit the data to students living on college campuses, and that rate is climbing to 67 %.
Additionally, 31% of adults under the age of 30 reported placing a sports bet in the past year. Those numbers are reflecting a broader rise in participation among young people.
During the 2025-26 academic year, approximately $12 billion was wagered via state-regulated gambling operators and prediction markets on games involving at least one SEC team.
There have been several NCAA gambling scandals recently
SEC Commissioner Sankey made note of the concerns raised by recent gambling scandals involving NCAA players. Basketball players from Alabama State and Iona were part of match-fixing operations. Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby was ruled ineligible by the NCAA after it was discovered that he'd made thousands of sports bets worth over $90,000. These wagers included bets on games in which his school was a participant.
None of the schools involved in these incidents is in the SEC. Regardless, that doesn't mean that betting on sports isn't an issue at all schools.
“The rise in sports gambling, including some recent well-documented incidents among college and professional athletics, as well as developments around prediction markets, makes this a high-priority initiative for the Southeastern Conference,” Sankey said.
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