Saint Joseph’s University has forbidden its students and faculty from betting on school’s athletics, despite sports betting being legal and regulated in Pennsylvania, writes Brett Smiley for the Sports Handle.

The updated student handbook sets out the new interim policy, which states that students, faculty, staff, contractors, and members of the Board of Trustees are forbidden from placing “an otherwise legal sports wager on any team, contest or event, or individual affiliated with the Saint Joseph’s University Department of Athletics.”

According to the policy, anyone who violate these rules “will be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with the applicable University procedures that implements sanctions for students, faculty, and staff.“

This makes Saint Joseph’s University the first educational institution nationwide to implement such a policy in a state where sports wagering is allowed.

However, the student-athletes and athletic employees have long been prohibited from betting on any collegiate athletics events by the NCAA.

Legal sports betting has been permitted in thirteen states, including Pennsylvania, since May last year after the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on outright wagering outside Nevada.

Read more about the new policy at the Sports Handle by clicking here.

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Top image by Peetlesnumber1 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24192207