The UW-Madison Athletic Board unanimously voted Friday to comply with an NCAA rule, which prohibits UW top officials from engaging in sports betting.
According to revised NCAA bylaws, these top officials include university chancellors, presidents and athletic board members.
Walter Dickey, a UW-Madison professor and board chair, said the board expanded the previous wager ban for athletic department staff and student athletes to include those who have oversight responsibility over athletics.""
""We decided to be explicit about the fact that it does bind the athletic board and passed our own policy [of the NCAA rule],"" he said.
Dickey said officials might have been conducting office pools for various sports tournaments, which are no longer allowed under the revised policy.
Peter Dykstra, a student member of the board, said the rule was adopted out of compliance with the NCAA and not specifically for any incident that occurred.
NCAA bylaws define sports wagering as ""placing, accepting or soliciting a wager of any type with any individual or organization on any intercollegiate, amateur or professional team or contest.""
The ban applies to any practice or competition in a sport that the NCAA conducts, championship games, and also applies to bowl subdivision football and emerging sports for women. Fantasy leagues are prohibited as well.
However, traditional wagers between institutions, such as the struggle with the University of Minnesota's football team for Paul Bunyan's axe, are still allowed.
""There are some instances where you may not have to pay anything to enter into a contest, but if there's a prize involved, that's still a reward [which is not allowed],"" Dykstra said.
