The NCAA will begin monitoring game officials during its Division I championship tournaments using ProhiBet, an integrity tool built by Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360), in a move designed to strengthen safeguards against prohibited wagering and preserve officiating neutrality. The program will cover the NCAA’s marquee DI events, including the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, as well as the DI championships in baseball and softball, according to reporting by Legal Sports Report.
The system works by matching lists of restricted individuals against sportsbook customer databases. The NCAA will upload the names of tournament officials into ProhiBet, where the identities are anonymized and then compared with participating sportsbook records to flag potential account creation or betting activity by individuals who are barred from wagering on NCAA sports. If an alert is triggered, the NCAA said it will evaluate whether the activity warrants removing an official from tournament assignments.
A key scale indicator: ESPN reported the basketball tournaments alone will involve more than 220 officials, including alternates—making manual monitoring unrealistic and underscoring why automated cross-checking is being adopted for championship events.
IC360 said ProhiBet is already used by more than two dozen U.S. sportsbooks, and has been deployed by schools and conferences, but 2026 marks the first time the NCAA is applying the tool to monitor officials during championship tournaments.
NCAA enforcement leader Mark Hicks framed the initiative as a “major step” for both integrity and participant well-being, while Scott Sadin, co-CEO of IC360, said the move sets a new benchmark for how sports organizations can proactively prevent betting-policy violations rather than reacting after the fact.
The announcement also lands amid broader U.S. debate over the scope of college-sports wagering, including calls to restrict certain bet types seen as increasing integrity risk. For the NCAA, ProhiBet adds a practical enforcement layer: verify compliance in real time, reduce conflicts of interest, and protect the credibility of results when stakes are highest.
