UNC in process of adopting ‘ProhiBet’ sports gambling monitoring technology

The University of North Carolina is moving to adopt more stringent sports betting monitoring technology as college athletics grapples with the rapid expansion of legalized wagering and emerging prediction markets that critics argue place new pressures on athletes.

UNC is in the process of purchasing and implementing ProhiBet, which markets itself as “the sports betting industry’s first and only prohibited bettor solution,” and is a product from Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360). Senior associate athletic director Marielle vanGelder said the system is expected to be operational by the end of the spring 2026 semester.

“Essentially, it’s a proactive monitoring tool that will prevent or notify you if one of your student athletes is attempting to sign up for an online gaming platform to participate in sports wagering,” vanGelder said at a Dec. 4 Faculty Athletics Committee meeting. “So as opposed to finding out on the back end, it gives you a chance to proactively stop the violation across all the major gaming platforms.”

The technology also covers emerging prediction markets, an area vanGelder said the athletic department is “learning more about.”

The move comes amid heightened scrutiny of gambling’s intersection with college sports, including a recent announcement by prediction market company Kalshi that it was self-certifying markets tied to whether college athletes enter the transfer portal. That proposal drew swift criticism from NCAA President Charlie Baker, who warned such markets could increase harassment of athletes and threaten competitive integrity.

UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham said the school opted into IC360’s higher level of monitoring after an NCAA rule change approved in October would have allowed college athletes and athletic department staff to bet on professional sports, while still prohibiting wagers on college athletics. In November, NCAA membership voted to rescind the change — a widely-celebrated move that preserved the existing prohibition on betting on professional sports.

“We wanted to make sure we didn’t get caught in having that gap, so we went ahead and signed up for the higher level of support,” Cunningham said at a Dec. 4 Faculty Athletics Committee meeting.

Cunningham explained that UNC already uses IC360’s base-level service, which alerts schools to abnormal betting patterns related to their competitions. ProhiBet provides an additional layer designed to prevent violations before they occur.

“This is the next level up,” Cunningham said on Dec. 4. “Trying to protect the school and the person from doing something inappropriate.”

At that same meeting, members of the Faculty Athletics Committee questioned how UNC plans to handle potential fallout if violations are detected. Cunningham and vanGelder emphasized the department views early detection as a safeguard rather than a disciplinary trap.

“We’d rather find it before they participate as an ineligible and some of the consequences,” vanGelder said. “Better to proactively be notified than find out.”

UNC officials emphasized that education will accompany the technology rollout. College sports leaders nationwide have increasingly turned to monitoring services as betting scandals and investigations have surfaced, including cases involving suspicious wagering patterns in small-conference college basketball teams last season.

UNC’s adoption of ProhiBet also aligns with a conference-wide initiative. The ACC partnered with IC360 in 2024 to provide member institutions access to integrity monitoring technology that analyzes data to identify irregular patterns in contest-level officiating and wagering. The agreement gave all member institutions the option to receive IC360’s educational services and access to the ProhiBet platform, which UNC is now opting into.

This story was originally published December 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM.