Official betting refers to wagering on events within a sport that have been sanctioned by the relevant sports governing body or competition. Bets are then settled on the result declared by this authority, rather than a human judge. The result is usually declared after the full 90 minutes, and includes injury time in both halves, although some markets will exclude this.
Sportsbook operators must be sure they are following rules for official betting, and this is especially important if the sport in question is one that has historically been prone to match-fixing or other types of betting-related corruption. For example, in 1919, professional gambler Joseph Sullivan paid eight members of the Chicago White Sox (Oscar Felsch, Arnold Gandil, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, George Weaver, Charles Risberg, and Claude Williams) 10,000 dollars each to fix a World Series game against the Cincinnati Reds. As a result, all eight players were permanently banned from baseball.
In the United States, betting on college sports is growing rapidly, and as a result, many colleges are struggling to deal with the impact of the new reality. A recent NCAA survey of campus compliance directors revealed that 27% of autonomy schools had dealt with a student-athlete sports betting issue in the previous year, up from 14% in 2019. The increased prevalence of gambling on college athletics threatens both the well-being of students and the integrity of NCAA competition. The NCAA is addressing this challenge by working with partners to address the issues and protect its athletes.