Collegiate sports need money to win

Collegiate sports lack a player’s union, and thus also lack a path to a salary cap. As a consequence, organizations and individuals can funnel money to colleges and hope the funding leads to a national championship. Now, a proposed change in legislation hopes to offer a new but potentially problematic pathway to bring money to the University of Arkansas’ NIL Collective, also known as Arkansas Edge.

More money means each college has more power to retain athletes or poach talent from other universities.

Arkansas revenue athletes are primarily paid by Arkansas Edge in what is known as “pay-for-play” contracts. NIL collectives exist at every major university, each one focused on compensation to each athlete for their athletic ability. More money means each college has more power to retain athletes or poach talent from other universities. That’s where Arkansas Edge’s plan to implement a 50/50 raffle enters the equation.

Arkansas Edge forms partnership with local casino

Arkansas Edge has formed a partnership with local casino Saracen Resort, hoping to utilize mobile wagering technology to create a 50/50 raffle for Razorback fans. The plan is for the raffle to act as a fundraising mechanism for the NIL. Many sporting events offer these types of raffles, which often distribute half of the total pool of money to the winner, while the other half is given to a charitable organization.

the proposed legislative changes do not fall under Arkansas raffle law”

But to enact said raffle, Arkansas Edge needs to circumvent or change existing laws. Its proposed legislation may end up doing both. In an article for SI.com, Professor Noah Henderson wrote: “One important issue of notice is that the proposed legislative changes do not fall under Arkansas raffle law but rather attempt to create a special category permitting unique NIL Raffles under casino regulations governed by the Arkansas Racing Commission.”

The proposed legislative changes to casino gaming in Arkansas are tied to interactive gaming, which features mobile wagering. In theory, allowing mobile wagering on top of live event wagering will increase revenue.

Proposed legislation violates Arkansas’ Raffles Act

This all sounds fine until noticing that what Arkansas Edge and Saracen Casino propose would violate Arkansas’ Charitable Bingo and Raffles Act. The first violation comes from the requirement that an entity holding a raffle in Arkansas be recognized and operational as a charity for a minimum of five years. Arkansas Edge has only been in operation since 2023, and so far, the entity is not yet recognized as a charitable organization.

Further, raffles in Arkansas cannot be entered via online ticket sales, hence the popularity of raffles at live sporting events. But that’s where Saracen Casino’s mobile wagering platform enters the equation. The proposed legislation would empower anyone physically present in Arkansas to play a raffle by using their mobile device.

Arkansas Edge calls raffle a “NIL drawing game”

While this seems straightforward, Arkansas Edge tipped the deviance of its proposal by being careful not to call the raffle a raffle. Instead, the organization hopes to circumvent regulations by referring to its raffle as an “NIL drawing game.” The Arkansas Racing Commission’s casino gaming rules state that a drawing game is thus “subject to casino gaming rules and therefore shall be subject to oversight and approval by the Arkansas Racing Commission.”

hopes to bypass regulations that would prevent it from utilizing mobile gaming technology

By calling the drawing something other than a raffle, combined with the proposed legislation, Arkansas Edge hopes to bypass regulations that would prevent it from utilizing mobile gaming technology. If it does this, it will circumvent current gaming laws that place restrictions to ensure this type of gambling is done only for charitable purposes.

Professor Henderson, who teaches in the sports management department at Loyola University Chicago, states: “A very valid point can be made that universities have exploited athletes’ labor for decades, and while I would agree that this statement is not only true but also in desperate need of remedy, it still does not make athletic compensation a charitable purpose. Leveraging fans’ bank accounts for the injustices of the NCAA system is not a charity.”