The start of March Madness coincided with the start of sports betting in North Carolina, and hundreds of millions of dollars in wagers have already been placed. But the NCAA says that the proliferation of sports betting is threatening the integrity of the game and the safety of student-athletes.

“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,” said NCAA President Charlie Baker in a statement on X. “The NCAA is drawing the line of 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.”

Baker is calling is calling on states around the country to put an end to college prop bets.  

Democratic state Rep. Zack Hawkins, one of the main sponsors of the bill that legalized sports betting, says there are no efforts underway in N.C. to ban prop betting.

“I haven’t been contacted and need to read up on what’s been happening in other states that’s prompting this call,” Hawkins said.

Sports betting became legal in North Carolina on March 11, just in time for the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament and March Madness. In just the first week of sports betting, over $198 million was wagered, with more than $141 million being won by bettors, according to a report from the North Carolina Lottery Commission.

Kevin Hennessy, vice president of communications at Fanatics Sportsbook, said that most bets on college sports are placed on basketball and football. He said that women’s basketball, in the middle of their tournament as well, is another popular sport.

A prop, or proposition, bet is any type of wager on parts of a game or event that may have nothing to do with the outcome. Prop bets are offered by most major sportsbooks, and have become increasingly popular in recent years, partly because they can be combined into a parlay.

Prop bets can be placed on almost anything, such as how many sacks a football team will get, how long the national anthem will last or the performance of a player.

That last category of prop betting is what worries Baker.

“Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continue to threaten the integrity of competition and leading to student-athletes getting harassed,” Baker said.

Sports betting can lead to more invested fans, but it can also be harmful for players.

“I think any time you can do anything to increase awareness, increase buy in, I think that’s a great thing,” said Carter Hicks, director of player and program development for UNC Baseball. “Obviously, there’s a line that has to be walked in terms of what goes over that line and what doesn’t.”

Hicks says that since sports betting was legalized in the state, he and other coaches have spent a lot of time educating and supporting their players.

“They live in the circle that people are betting on, and if things don’t happen the way they want, if we don’t win a game, if we don’t have an outcome that someone has bet on, our players are going to hear about that,” Hicks said. “And sometimes it’s not always in the nicest way.”

Baker’s call for a ban on prop betting come amid recent gambling controversies at both the college and pro levels.

Just this month, Temple has come under investigation by U.S. Integrity, a gambling watchdog company, for suspicious gambling activity around its men’s basketball team. The investigation came during the Owls run to the AAC Championship game.

Last month, the NCAA handed down a 15-year show-cause order to former Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon, which essentially bars him from work in college baseball for the next decade and a half. An NCAA investigation found that Bohannon had been giving insider information to a bettor.

On the pro level, the NBA is investigating Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter for suspicious prop bets based on his statistics. According to ESPN, the league is investigating if Porter placed bets on himself or was involved with someone who did, which would be a first since the proliferation of sports betting started six years ago.