St. Joseph's has adopted a policy "banning all students, faculty, and staff from wagering on any events in which the university’s teams are participating," according to Andrew Maykuth of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. Villanova adopted a similar policy last November in the months following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that legalized sports betting. Last week, Purdue "became the first known public university to adopt such a ban." All universities that are members of the NCAA "prohibit student athletes and members of athletic departments from any sports betting." Pennsylvania state law "prohibits non-insiders from making sports bets on behalf of insiders, such as athletes or team support staff." The new policies adopted by universities "extend those prohibitions to everyone on campus as far as betting on events in which the school’s teams participate, creating kind of a moral ring-fence around the institution." Athletic department representatives at St. Joseph’s and Villanova said that their policies were "not prompted by any unsavory incidents, but by a need to respond to the changes brought about by legalization" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 10/12).
