Purdue Bans Betting on Purdue

Are you a Purdue student or faculty member that bet on Purdue to cover against Penn State this past Saturday?

Well, enjoy your winnings now, because Purdue is now banning students, faculty, and staff from betting on Purdue Athletic events. The measure was unanimously approved this week by the Board of Trustees. As reported by WLFI:

The ban includes faculty, staff and students from betting on teams, coaches, contests, stats, etc. The prohibition includes sports wagers placed on any team, on a pre-game or in-play basis placed in US and placed online or app (legal or illegal).

Those found to be in violation, on the faculty and staff side, could be terminated. The Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Vice President for Human Resources in concert with the Executive Policy Review Group will figure out sanctions for staff. The Vice Provost for Student Life and the Dean of Students will work with the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities and the EPRG to develop sanctioning guidelines for non-athlete students who are found to be in violation.

According to the article, Purdue Athletics declined an on-camera interview about this, but did publish this statement from athletics director, Mike Bobinski:

“Today’s action by the board of trustees sends a strong message of support to our student-athletes. They can be confident in conducting their daily business on campus without fear of being compromised for information or in other ways that might be connected to sports gambling activities.”

lol okay.

I’m not entirely sure why Mitch Daniels and Purdue’s BoT thought this measure was even necessary. Full disclosure, I have never bet on a sporting event, and I haven’t been a Purdue student in 6 years, so this doesn’t impact me one bit. But the whole thing just seems silly, especially since there is no way this could actually be enforced. Perhaps they’re betting on (no pun intended) someone tweeting out that they won/lost a lot of money on a Purdue game, or maybe planting a few narcs around campus.

Maybe Mitch Daniels is slowly turning into Raul Alejandro Bastilla Pedro de Veloso de Morana, the Vice-director Ejecutivo del Diputado del Departamento de Parques, L.G.V.:

But of course, President Daniels wants to make sure you’re safe this March:

“Not the bracket in the dorm thing,” said Purdue President Mitch Daniels.