STARKVILLE — A Mississippi State women’s basketball practice squad player violated NCAA rules by sports gambling while participating as a member of the program.
The male practice squad player, whose name was redacted, placed six bets from Sept. 28-30 worth $10 total on NFL and college football games, according to Mississippi State’s annual NCAA violations report obtained by the Clarion Ledger through an open records request. None of the bets were placed on Mississippi State games. He began working for the team four days prior to placing the bets, according to the documents.
It was in violation of NCAA bylaw 10.3, which prohibits sports wagering for athletes, coaches and other team personnel. MSU increased its sports wagering rules education for all male practice players and now requires them to sign an acknowledgment form. The individual also deactivated his sports betting account.
The SEC accepted the punishment and did not impose any additional penalties.
ProhiBet, a sports gambling monitoring agency, alerted Mississippi State of the the wagers placed.
“Our compliance office does a very thorough job of routinely educating all staff and student-athletes on sports betting,” an athletics department spokesperson told the Clarion Ledger. “We have a good system for monitoring as well. That process/system allowed us to identify and address that specific issue quickly and adequately.”
That was one of three violations reported by Mississippi State in 2024. All of them were Level III, the lowest tier and most common infractions.
NCAA bylaw 13.8.1 allows for high school coaches to receive complimentary tickets to competitions, but a maximum of two. A high school coach, whose name is redacted but was noted as a former MSU football player, was given three tickets for the football game against Arkansas at Davis Wade Stadium on Oct. 26.
The coach showed up to the game after the high school ticket gate had closed, so he went to the ticket office. His name was on the list, but with three tickets, a typo. The coach used the other two tickets to give to his daughters.
Mississippi State has since altered its complimentary ticket procedure to require the list to be sent to the compliance office for review before it reaches the ticket office. The coach was also requested to donate $80 to a charity of his choice.
The Mississippi State track and field team exceeded its activity hours for the week of Nov. 3-9.
It occurred during the non-championship segment of the schedule, which had just turned over the week prior. NCAA bylaw 17.1.7.2 states that activity hours cannot exceed eight hours during those weeks, with a four-hour cap on skill-related workouts.
The report said coach Chris Woods was not aware the schedule had transitioned to the non-championship segment.
Mississippi State enforced a two-for-one penalty, reducing two hours of activity for every one hour that each athlete exceeded the limit.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
