The NCAA has descended into multiple betting scandals in the last couple of years. In January 2026, federal prosecutors exposed a gambling ring with at least 39 players, with 26 ultimately charged. The ring was run by a group of men who reached inside the basketball community to pull in a number of co-conspirators. Game manipulation and point shaving by the players, among other offenses, have been regularly caught. Now, the NCAA is adopting the same system for its referees that helped federal prosecutors charge those players.

Before getting to the NCAA’s preventive solution, understand the scale of betting in March Madness. Betting and gaming consultancy H2 Gambling Capital is projecting that there will be approximately $4 billion in March Madness sportsbook handle this year. That is up by 6.7% from the $3.7 billion estimated in 2025. While the Super Bowl holds the crown when it comes to individual games, March Madness is “the most bet-on event in the U.S. sporting calendar,” the H2 report said. So, for the first time, the NCAA is adding referee names to the database. 

ProhiBet is a sports betting compliance platform developed by Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360). So here is how it works. The NCAA will submit a list of its  “banned bettors,” and the platforms scan sportsbook databases for their login. It immediately flags the NCAA if any prohibited entity is found logging in. 

“Implementing ProhiBet is a major step in increasing integrity protections for college sports. ” NCAA managing director of enforcement Mark Hicks said in the release (via USA Today), “This platform adds another layer to the NCAA’s robust integrity monitoring program as we work to keep competition integrity and student-athlete well-being paramount in a rapidly evolving sports betting environment.”

This system is also adopted by the Sun Belt conference, the SEC, and the Big 12 among others. It also informs the client of any abnormal betting patterns, which helped catch the gambling scheme in January. While this is a welcome move from the NCAA regarding March Madness, the governing organization must also prepare for a problem beyond that. 

NCAA Must Implement Monitoring System During The Transfer Portal

In 2026, the sports betting market has evolved to become more than just the games. The fairly new sports prediction platform Kalshi allows bettors to bet on events. Compared to during the 2025 March Madness, the volume on the platform is much higher today. Its trading volume went from $300 million to $40–50 billion since August 2025 according to a December 17, 2025 research report by Foresight Ventures. Now, it’s offering bets on the players’ transfer portal futures.

NCAA president Charlie Baker released a statement in December saying the NCAA is “vehemently opposed” to prediction market Kalshi’s proposal to allow trading on whether college athletes will enter the transfer portal. “It is already bad enough that student-athletes face harassment and abuse for lost bets on game performance, and now Kalshi wants to offer bets on their transfer decisions and status,” it read. “this is absolutely unacceptable and would place even greater pressure on student-athletes while threatening competition integrity and recruiting processes.” As of now, Kalshi has not yet started offering live, tradable markets on basketball transfer portal outcomes. But, it has self‑certified them and built the framework.  

Ideally for the NCAA, the system would not exist in the first place. But Kalshi operates as a federally regulated prediction market under the CFTC, not state gambling laws. So, they can’t legally (as of the current understanding) stop Kalshi. However, they can monitor insider trading with the help of ProhiBet. 

NCAA rules ban participation in sports betting activities and prohibit providing information to individuals involved in or associated with any type of sports betting activities concerning intercollegiate, amateur or professional athletic competition. Transfer portal betting falls in a grey area under that scope, as it’s not technically “athletic competition.” So, the NCAA needs to alter its rules. It needs to enforce strict monitoring to prevent agents, referees, players and other stakeholders from compromising the transfer portal.