The NCAA is pushing to ban proposition bets involving college athletes amid several recent gambling scandals stemming from various sports, NCAA President and former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced in a statement shared on Wednesday (March 27).

The NCAA, which governs college athletics, is aiming to eliminate wagering on a certain statistic or player, arguing that it could make them especially vulnerable to outside influence, with key plays or injury absences swinging major sums.

"Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity of competitions and leading to student-athletes and professional athletes getting harassed," Baker said in the statement. "The NCAA has been working with states to deal with these threats and many are responding by banning college prop bets.

"This week we will be contacting officials across the country in states that still allow these bets and ask them to join Ohio, Vermont, Maryland and many others and remove college prop bets from all betting markets," Baker added. "The NCAA is drawing the line on sports betting to protect student-athletes and to protect the integrity of the game -- issues across the country these last several days show there is more work to be done."

The NCAA has dealt with several repeated issues with sports betting irregularity since its legalization which included Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon being fired and handed a 15-year show-cause after allegedly revealing inside information to gamblers and several Iowa and Iowa State players being suspended for gambling, which included placing bets on their own team in 2023, as well as Temple basketball coach being at the center of an investigation by U.S. Integrity.

Baker, the former governor of Massachusetts, took over as the NCAA's president in March 2023 and has leveraged his political connections since, which has included testifying before Congress on multiple occasions. The NCAA's push to ban prop bets comes days after Jontay Porter of the NBA's Toronto Raptors was placed under investigation by the league for pro bet irregularities.

Porter, who's averaged 4.4 points and 13.8 minutes per game during the 2023-24 season, was one of the most bet-on players during the January 26 games against the Los Angeles Clippers and exited the game after four minutes, which led to all of his unders cashing.