Horse Racing To Chinese Baseball, Kirby Smart Learning About Gambling

MIRAMAR BEACH, Florida – The SEC is having its own discussions on the ongoing gambling situation that has recently reared its ugly head in college athletics. In terms of how coaches and administrators are trying to educate athletes, they’re still learning themselves.

After the most recent incident that caught the eye of college athletics at Alabama, online gambling has become a vocal point at this year’s SEC meetings. There is no simple solution to get solve the problem, but educating student-athletes on the ramifications is the starting point.

As OutKick previously reported, there are a number of different ways that some student-athletes are still finding ways to gamble. It’s not as if there is a massive public problem at the moment, but there could be in the future. Looking at what happened with former Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon should be clear evidence that there’s at least something brewing.

Multiple student athletes at Iowa and Iowa State are under investigation for alleged gambling activity. Add on the two Cincinnati baseball coaches being fired for knowledge of illegal activity, it’s easy to notice a potential problem. It would be very easy for a player to lose their eligibility by getting caught on a gambling app, so the time for action is now in the minds of college officials.

There are multiple scenarios that could lead to a player getting caught, even if gambling is not allowed in the state they are attending college. This is something that worries college coaches, who are still trying to learn everything they can about the new technology.

Take Georgia’s Kirby Smart for instance. The Bulldogs head coach is still learning how this is all transpiring. In fact, when asked on Tuesday about player’s understanding the gravity of the situation, Kirby was transparent that he questions whether his team is grasping the potential ramifications.

“I don’t know that they completely understand it. I think what’s happening now is it’s becoming much more prevalent, and they have to because of what you just said,” Kirby Smart mentioned. “I didn’t even understand the app. I didn’t even know because I don’t gamble. I don’t bet. I don’t have those apps. Well, when you go start researching it — and we were researching it really in the last year — I mean, these kids, there’s like Chinese baseball games and stuff that people are gambling on. It’s like, what? 

“They’re betting on horse racing in another country. It’s literally crazy how easy it is and the access they have to it, and then the punishment you have to ask yourself, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy could lose his entire eligibility forever for betting on a horse race, you know, in another country.”