Senate Advances Protect College Sports Act In Procedural Vote

Tuesday's 74-24 result was a cloture vote on the motion to proceed, not a vote on final passage. 

It needed 60 votes to succeed and cleared that bar comfortably, with two absent senators, Chris Coons and Jacky Rosen, both confirmed co-sponsors who support the bill. 

The Senate still needs two more procedural votes before a final passage vote, and if the bill clears the Senate, it moves to the House of Representatives.

Speaking on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, Cantwell said: "This bill brings order to college sports. It helps women and Olympic sports, and it sets up a commission to look at the real future, which I think should include collective bargaining. Let's bring some sanity. Recognize that athletes do deserve revenue sharing, and that this bill will put that into law for the first time."

The Protect College Sports Act of 2026, formally S. 4668, is built mainly around name, image and likeness rights, agent regulation and athlete healthcare. 

But Section 113 of the bill, covering eligibility to participate in intercollegiate sports, permits an athletic association to restrict an athlete's eligibility over the use of an illegal or performance-enhancing drug or participation in wagering with online sportsbooks, according to a summary published by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

That clause writes existing NCAA practice into federal law. The NCAA already treats athlete betting as a strict liability violation.

In September 2025, the association permanently revoked the eligibility of three Division I men's basketball players, Mykell Robinson, Jalen Weaver and Steven Vasquez, after a Nevada sportsbook's integrity monitoring service flagged suspicious prop bets on Robinson's performance during a January 2025 Fresno State game, according to the NCAA's own infractions release. 

The players had coordinated wagers worth $2,200 that paid out $15,950, and Robinson had also placed prop bets on his own statistical lines through daily fantasy sports operators.

While You Are Here, Why Not Check Out Our: Casino Games Hub & Free Slots?

Congress codifying the NCAA's authority to bar athletes for betting violations gives that enforcement power a firmer legal footing, just as prop betting on individual college athletes' performance continues to grow across licensed sportsbooks. 

Integrity monitoring, the same kind of alert that flagged the Fresno State case, remains the primary detection tool for this activity, and operators routinely share flagged patterns with schools and the NCAA under existing information-sharing arrangements.

The bill does not create any new gambling-specific consumer protection or addiction treatment programs for student-athletes. 

Its focus stays on NIL rights, health coverage and governance rather than wagering education, and bettors who want independent support can still turn to responsible gambling resources. 

The next procedural vote is expected within days, with Senate leaders targeting a final Senate vote before the bill moves to the House.