- The University of Mississippi is launching the UM Center on Collegiate Gambling in 2026.
- The goal of the center is to help college students who struggle with problem gambling and to protect college athletes from harassment related to gambling.
OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi recently announced their plans to open the UM Center on Collegiate Gambling, the first program specifically focused on gambling amongst college students and collegiate athletics.
The goal of the program is to understand gambling behaviors amongst college students, ranging from table games to sports betting.
The program will also include counselors to help students who engage in problem gambling and promote policies at the state level meant to help combat problem gambling.
Headed by associate professor of social work Daniel Durkin, assistant professor of public health Hannah Allen-King, law professor Ron Rychlak, education professor George McClellan, and director of the William Magee Center Nick McAfee, a task force for the school conducted research in favor of the center last spring.
They found that 39% of Mississippi college students gambled in some form over the past year. Further, 6% of those students using legal Mississippi sportsbooks met the criteria for problem gambling.
In addition to providing services to college students struggling with problem gambling, one of the main purposes of the center is to protect and uphold standards around betting on collegiate sports.
With the rise of legal sports betting across the country and widespread access to social media, many athletes have been subject to harassment online from gamblers.
This has led to some states with legal sports betting disallowing player props for college sports contests, including Mississippi.
Even so, the center will advocate for athletes’ protections and upholding the integrity of collegiate sports in Mississippi, and will likely expand into other states.
Approved by the Institutions of Higher Learning trustees at the university, the UM Center on Collegiate Gambling will cost approximately $700k per year and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2026.
