Kris Johnson Deputy Editor -- CasinoBeats.com
Kris Johnson is a Charlotte-based deputy editor. He joined CasinoBeats in July 2025 and oversees the daily news flow of editing and publishing. Kris also reports on all aspects of the gambling industry with a...
Read Full BioPittsburgh basketball head coach Jeff Capel‘s team was not involved in last week’s NCAA betting scandal, but that did little to allay fears that his players could be affected in the future.
Speaking on his weekly ACC Zoom call, it was clear that Capel remains on “high alert about the prevalence of prop bets and gambling on college sports.”
Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals coupled with easy access to betting can potentially be a combustible combination.
“You look at these kids — they have money now through NIL,” Capel said. “They have a lot of money. It’s so prevalent. It’s everywhere. You watch SportsCenter, and they have segments on there about betting, about gambling.
“You listen to a sports podcast — they talk about it constantly. The FanDuels, there’s commercials about it. It’s so easy to do. Their peers are doing it. And so, yeah, I worry about it.”
Critical Time for Colleges as NCAA Navigates Challenges
Last week, NCAA President Charlie Baker again called on regulators to amend state laws on “high-risk” wagers, including player prop bets.
The most recent point-shaving scandal targeted smaller schools, which are easy prey for fixers, since NIL funds are less prevalent. Still, Capel believes his players are viable targets, which makes him uneasy “about the potential for student-athletes to make catastrophic choices at a young age that could alter the trajectory of their careers and lives.”
“They’re basically pro athletes but without the mindset of what a real pro does,” Capel said. “For a lot of these young people, it’s the first time they’ve had money and this amount of money. The responsibility that comes with it, they don’t really understand it, especially younger guys. There are a lot of opportunities for them to make really immature decisions and not smart decisions.”
He concluded, “I’m worried about it with all of these guys. They’re very, very vulnerable. They’re impressionable, they’re vulnerable and there’s so many ways to get to them now.”
Match-fixing expert Declan Hill, an associate professor at the University of New Haven, told CasinoBeats that the latest NCAA incident was a “carbon copy match-fixing scandal.”
“It’s yet another scandal,” Hill said. “It’s the tip of the iceberg. There will be more scandals coming down.”
It’s against that ominous backdrop that the NCAA and its member institutions must move forward. Concerns about betting are now a hazard that comes standard with the job for coaches like Capel.
