The NCAA said Friday evening that it had filed a lawsuit against the online sportsbook DraftKings for using the governing body's trademarks associated with the NCAA tournament.
Sportsbooks typically use generic terms to identify games and props for the NCAA tournament. It's similar to companies running "big game" promotions around the Super Bowl in February. In a statement, the NCA said that it was seeking an emergency temporary restraining order against DraftKings to prevent the book from using "March Madness," "Final Four," "Elite Eight" and "Sweet Sixteen."
"The NCAA makes clear in the complaint and its motion that every day that DraftKings continues to use these marks, millions of sports fans — and critically, college students and young adults who are particular susceptible to gambling harm — are exposed to the false suggestion that the Association has authorized or endorsed DraftKings' gambling platform," the statement said.
"This causes confusion among NCAA members and student-athletes that the Association is involved with and/or endorsing sports betting, which is in direct contradiction to its robust education, integrity monitoring, anti-harassment and advocacy efforts to end risky prop bets."
The NCAA has attempted to carefully navigate the legal betting waters in recent years. NCAA president Charlie Baker has spoken out against sportsbooks offering prop bets on individual players' performances and some states have moved to restrict prop bets on individual college athletes.
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The governing body has been announcing penalties for college athletes who were part of points shaving in recent months. In January,federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania indicted 20 menfor their roles allegedly fixing college basketball games and professional games in China. As part of the scheme, college basketball players were paid to manipulate their performances in games based on the direction of wagers.
Last fall, the NCAA announced that it was investigating at least 30 current and former men's college basketball players for their roles in alleged sports betting breaches. Numerous former playershave been punished for their refusal to cooperate in NCAA investigations.
In October, the NCAA said that it would allowall college athletes to bet on professional sports.However, that announcement was met with immediate pushback from member schools. A majority of Division I schoolsvoted to overturn the rule changeand return to rules that prohibited athletes and staffers from betting on both professional and college sports.