Lane Kiffin Reveals How Ole Miss Rebels Educate Players on Sports Betting

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin takes the NCAA's rules on gambling seriously, so much so that he has brought in experts to teach his team about its dangers.

Sports betting and its effect on athletes is once again in the news, specifically relating to Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani.

That's in the professional sports realm, but this is a pitfall that could also impact college athletes. How can coaches at big-time college programs prevent their players from gambling on sporting events and having it impact their eligibility?

That's not a job that Lane Kiffin attacks hands-on, but he takes it seriously regarding his Ole Miss Rebels roster. In fact, he has brought in experts to inform his players about the dangers of sports betting since he's been in Oxford.

Dec 30, 2023; Atlanta, GA, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin during the 2023 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

"I don't have a ton of knowledge in that area, so we bring people in for that," Kiffin said on Tuesday. "We had someone speak to SEC coaches about a year ago, and I thought that they did a great job. They had worked with the NFL and other colleges and knew how it worked. They were able to get the alerts and track where the bets come from: their phones or girlfriends' phones.

"They did such a good job, that we brought them in here before the season to talk to our guys about that. It's just another one of those things out there that guys have to understand to protect themselves and protect the team."

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College athletics have changed vastly over the last few years, seeing massive impacts from the transfer portal and the allowance for players to receive money for use of their name, image and likeness, something that was foreign to the game less than 10 years ago.

Sports betting, however, is still disallowed by the NCAA, and given the current focus on gambling scandals in sports, it's smart for Kiffin to make sure his players are informed about the rules and pitfalls associated with Vegas moving forward.