In the United States, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has reportedly announced that it may consider implementing a number of new policies on sportsbetting for venues wishing to host any of its future championship events.

Possible prohibition:

According to a Tuesday report from the Associated Press news service, the revelation came as this year’s edition of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament got underway and included a disclosure that such guidelines from the nation’s highest collegiate athletics regulator may include a ban on the display of any gambling-related advertisements during its games.

Changing course:

The NCAA once prohibited venues from hosting championship events if they were located in a state that permitted legalized sports wagering. However, last year’s revocation by the United States Supreme Court of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) has allowed Mississippi, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and New Mexico to join a sportsbetting-friendly club that had once only included Nevada.

Sportsbook shuttering:

As a result, the NCAA has suspended this ban but reportedly remains wary of bringing marquee events such as its annual basketball extravaganza, which is often colloquially referred to as ‘March Madness’ to states where fans can legally wager on the outcome of games. It is moreover considering asking future host venues to temporarily shutter any on-site sportsbooks and is to seek advice from athletic conferences that already feature universities located in gambling-friendly jurisdictions.

Test venues:

In the meantime, the NCAA has decided to temporarily put aside any suspicions by allowing affiliated conferences to hold championship events for a number of sports in states with sportsbetting. The body is purportedly furthermore permitting several of this year’s ‘March Madness’ games to be staged at arenas in Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island while the prestigious competition’s 15-game East Regional extravaganza is to take place from the 20,300-seat Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, which could soon become the next American jurisdiction to legalize sports wagering.

Repeated warning:

Joni Comstock, Championships Senior Vice-President for the NCAA, reportedly told the news service that her organization’s Board of Governors may consider new policies on sportsbetting at its next several meetings but in the interim has repeated a warning to players and coaches that they should not have any association with gambling.

Comstock reportedly told the Associated Press…

“We anticipate that probably by 2020 or 2021 there will be potentially 30 states that are allowing sports wagering. We’re going to have to work in the environment that we have.”