Louisiana based Tulane University is taking sports betting integrity into its own hands by requiring coaches and athletic staff to sign a nondisclosure agreement to prevent the sharing of insider information.
SI.com reports that coaches and staff were shown the form that will prohibit the sharing of “Confidential Information” which include financial, educational and medical records considered relevant to sports betting.
The document makes specific reference to sharing of information with ‘individuals associated with sports betting’. Should anyone who has signed the NDA become aware of a breach they must report it to the athletic department’s CFO. Per the document obtained by SportsIllustrated, “Failure to abide by this Confidentiality Statement may subject me to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment”.
The approach taken by Tulane aims to counter a wider potential issue in sports betting. The NDA is not restrictive to family and close friends, but anyone ‘associated with sports betting’. The report suggests that at several points in the last college season, coaches were emailed asking for inside information by bettors.
Although seemingly a catalyst for the NDA, the Iowa State betting scandal relates mainly to players wagering themselves on games in which they can influence the outcome. This NDA, a first of its kind in college sports, attempts to restrict nefarious third parties from obtaining information to gain an advantage through sports betting.
Tulane Athletic Director Troy Dannen told SI: “There have been incidents around the country where the intersection of gambling and college athletics have come to the forefront. There are two concerns. One is the gambling itself, and that becomes fairly self-explanatory for us”.
He continued: “But for us, this is a reminder to everyone that works in the department, from tutors to academic advisers to equipment to every staff member, that there’s also information that you hold because you’re around the athletes, you’re around the training room, you’re around the academic advisers. There’s information you hold that can be used for gambling purposes and that information needs to stay closely held for the protection of the athlete and the protection of the integrity of the game”.
There will be no room for semantics, Dannen adds. “If you are anyone [on staff] and do not sign this, there will be no place for you in this particular athletic department. This is athletic department staff, managers, student managers, tutors, anybody that works, whether as a volunteer or an employee of the athletic department. Anyone that would have access to the information.
Athletes are not themselves being asked to sign the NDA; Dannen is trusting that NCAA rules and integrity training relating to wagering themselves should be sufficient. “If the backup quarterback finds out he’s starting on Saturday, you don’t want to tell him he can’t tell his parents he’s starting on Saturday”.
In wake of legalized mobile sports betting in Louisiana, Louisiana State University coach Brian Kelly is releasing injury updates three times every game week (mirroring the NFL) to keep as much information in the public eye as possible. The wave of sports betting integrity movements across collegiate sports continues to gather pace.