Transfer Portal Regulation Courtesy of….Gambling?

This past football season saw yet another tornado of activity in the Transfer Portal. As of January, there have been over 1,000 players who have entered the transfer portal for football ALONE, and many of these players compete in the Power 5 conferences that play in what we call “bowl games”.

Bowl games are postseason football matchups between schools that wouldn’t normally play each other due to conference or geographic location. Outside of the top four teams, these games are meant to cap off the year with a sponsored game in a unique city, and don’t usually attract a large in-person audience. However, These bowl games have significant impact in the world of sports gambling, from single game bets to entire bowl season competitions.

While many bowl related wagers are done amongst friends and families, the Vegas sportbook carries odds for every bowl game as well. When the odds are set, they are done so with a specific roster in mind, and maintain a balance due to that roster. With the transfer portal slapped in the middle of bowl season, players will spend the entire bowl season entering the transfer portal, which sometimes means NOT playing for their current team in the bowl game. When impact players enter the portal, it affects the gambling odds and can give certain teams a huge advantage or disadvantage on the field.

While Betting odds are dynamic, they aren’t instantaneous, so smart bettors can take transfer portal information and make bets before the market has a chance to readjust their odds accordingly.

Given that sport betting is a billion dollar industry, their losses from bowl season betting could serve as one of the biggest causes for reform in the transfer portal sector.

The NCAA may be big, but gambling is bigger.