Mizzou Athletics takes hands-on approach with sports gambling education

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The month of March will really begin on Tuesday, when the 'First Four' games of the NCAA Tournament tip off in Dayton, Ohio. That means sports betting will be at one of the highest points of the year.

The American Gaming Association estimated that about 68 million Americans are expected to bet on the NCAA Tournament, in 2026, with heavy action on the first weekend of the action.

This March will also be the first that sports gambling is legal in Missouri. As a result, Mizzou Athletics decided to be proactive in protecting its student-athletes from all the mental and financial tolls that sports betting can take.

"We're in this new era of Missouri legalizing sports betting. So are they aware of the risks, the harms?" Katie Martinez, Mizzou's assistant director of athletics, said.

Pressures off the court are constantly evolving for modern student-athletes, in the age of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), revenue sharing and now - sports gambling. In fact, you can already see the impact that its taken. As of early 2026, ESPN reported that the NCAA had either investigated or taken action against 20 schools for sports betting.

"You see what's happening in these programs, there's investigations, you know, that doesn't help with the recruitment that doesn't help with your funding, that you do get. You know, I think it ruins your reputation," Tiger forward Jacob Crews said.

Betting on sports has never been a temptation for Crews.

"I don't really like taking a risk like that," he said.

However, he can see how it could create issues for athletes across the nation.

"It's just like became like almost like a business for other people," Crews said. "I can see where that kind of blurs the lines a lot for people, too, because, you know, you get into the part where you got to be careful yourself because other people might try to...you know, if you're at a smaller school and NIL ain't a big thing, [they can say] 'hey, do this, do that.' You know, you see, there's a lot of cases going on on programs and everything like that."  

In the midst of all the sports gambling madness, Mizzou is putting itself at the forefront of educating its student-athletes with a hands-on approach.

Martinez emphasized just how important it is for athletes to have plenty of people - peers, coaches and administrators, alike - to turn to and ask questions to, especially in an era where things are evolving constantly.

"How many of them are experiencing social pressure that's surrounded by sports betting? But then who are our champions on campus in the department that they can rely on to walk them through through some of these," Martinez said.

Of course, the rules for college athletes are simple: they cannot bet on sports. Martinez said that is clearly communicated to every athlete that comes through Mizzou Athletics.

However, MU's education focuses on more than just that simple rule. It's really about open and honest conversations, not shying away from a 'taboo' topic.

"We've been on top of it as an administration, an institution to be able to have these conversations with our players. I do it even more so than the norm," Mizzou men's basketball coach Dennis Gates said. "I make sure these guys are either, educated more than normal, or even just talking about those topics of conversation and letting them know it's not worth it."

Mizzou Athletics had an opportunity for lots of open conversation in an event it hosted with the Inter-fraternity Council (IFC) on campus, in March. Around 50 students showed up for presentations about sports gambling and a panel with current Tiger student-athletes.

"We think that that coming directly student-to-student is gonna be the best approach," Martinez said.

That event is all a part of a larger effort to educate not just student-athletes about the risks of sports gambling, but also the average university student. Recently, UM System President Mun Choi sent out a letter to the Mizzou student body, outlining the best ways to protect athletes in this new age of sports betting.

You can find his full letter below.

Dear Fellow Tigers,

This is an exciting time of year for intercollegiate sports, including the “March Madness” basketball tournaments. As a proud member of both the NCAA and SEC – and with sports betting now legal in Missouri – the University of Missouri strives to maintain integrity in competition and protect the welfare of student-athletes. In the spirit of fair competition and student-athlete well-being, we are sharing expectations for Mizzou students, employees and appointees related to sports wagering. Please do not:

• Attempt to influence or compromise the outcome, margin, or statistical performance of any intercollegiate athletic event in which an MU student-athlete or MU team is participating; 
• Share nonpublic, confidential, or internal information concerning MU athletics, such as injury status, proprietary game plans, disciplinary status, lineup decisions, or strategic adjustments, for use in connection with sports wagering.
• Threaten or harass MU student-athletes as a result of their athletic performance.  

These behaviors are contrary to our values, and may also violate laws and University policies.

Thank you for your incredible support of Mizzou and all our talented student-athletes. Please continue to cheer on our Tigers in a way that is consistent with our community values. 

M-I-Z!

Mun Y. Choi, PhD

The very kind of scenarios outlined in Choi's letter are the precise reason that Mizzou Athletics feels like education about sports gambling will become a standard for athletic departments across the nation.

"We're preparing for all these avenues of if this happen, a scenario where somebody addresses our student athlete of, hey, man, you cost me the game last night, how are we protecting that student athlete?" Martinez said.

However, Mizzou's resources for athletes in this constantly evolving world of college athletics, reaches far beyond just education into the risks of sports betting.

In fact, Martinez run's MU's one-of-a-kind hub called the 'Momentum Institute,' a program which helps student-athletes with career leadership, community service, personal branding, financial literacy, anything that holistically develops our student athletes outside the court.

"The pressure of like knowing how to manage your finances is so insurmountable here in athletics. Really under [Athletic Director Laird Veatch's] direction, he wanted to enhance our financial education program," Martinez said. "How are we impacting our student athletes? We used to have touch points, of course, like bringing in different speakers. But now this year, we ran our first pilot that had a curriculum based with budgeting, tax credit, investments. It's monthly workshops, there's a mobile application our student-athletes can partake in to different pathways and then they can eventually unlock one-on-one financial coaching. So, it's really what they want to put into it and what they want to learn. We see our student-athletes coming to these workshops, they're making accounts secure to navigate the different mobile applications and those are both really critical pieces. So, the education really is trying to hit that grassroots level, that foundational skill set, but then they also have an NIL pathway. So, if students are really eager and they want to explore more down the NIL pathway, they are more than happy to learn more about LLC, contract reviews, etc."

Martinez said she would love to report, over the summer, that the pilot program was a success and they're going to continue doing monthly workshops. But, she also hopes it gets replicated at other SEC institutions, as well.

"I am not hearing anyone hosting monthly workshops. I feel like a lot of other institutions might do [a speaker] once a semester and that's it," she said. "But, we're really tracking the progress of our students and we know that they're not just attending one workshop, they're attending two, they're attending three. They're unlocking these online modules. So, that desire is there, keeping the conversation of how are we encouraging and building your confidence in the financial sector is just the first step. We're going to keep building and seeing you went through this as a freshman, okay. What can you learn as a sophomore and what are new topics you want to explore? So, we have the fundamentals down, but I'm excited to expand the topic repertoire to see what they're really interested in engaging in."