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NCAA schools look at possible compensation from sports betting

Christian Petersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty

It's not just the major professional sports leagues that are set to be affected by the legalization of sports gambling, as many will eagerly wager on college football and basketball as well.

With that in mind, representatives from Missouri, Rutgers, and UConn sat in on a conference call with Major League Baseball earlier this week to examine potential plans to net a percentage of money wagered on their events.

The NBA, MLB, and PGA Tour have lobbied for a percentage of all money wagered on their sport to be paid to the specific governing body, with the figure ranging from 0.25 to one percent.

"The schools are concerned that they're going to be taking a lot of risk and are going to have increased compliance costs," head of the Division I Athletic Directors Association Tom McMillen told ESPN's David Purdum and Darren Rovell. "A lot of these schools have not been in the loop on a lot of this. A lot of these discussions have been going on without the universities' input. These are the crown jewels of your states, and you can't set public policy on sports betting without involving your universities."

The NCAA has been strongly opposed to sports betting for years as it can present a threat to the integrity of the product. While professional athletes earn massive salaries, student-athletes are not paid, making them prime candidates to be targeted for match-fixing.

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