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While building hype for the NFL season, which begins in two weeks, the league is also taking precautions against sports betting among its players, especially as the NBA and MLB have faced significant controversies this year.
The NFL will have investigators on-site during game days to scout for “suspicious activity,” according to ESPN. What constitutes suspicious activity is unclear, though SVP of NFL security Cathy Lanier told ESPN that the investigators, which consist of retired FBI agents or executive-level police officers, are searching for behavior that could be an “anomaly.”
The NFL’s security team also monitors betting markets in search of suspicious activity, such as large swings in the odds of player props. This is what triggered the NBA incident involving the Raptors’ Jontay Porter after DraftKings Sportsbook reported that his player props were the day’s top moneymaker on two separate occasions.
A similar report was received by MLB in the case that turned into a lifetime ban for San Diego Padres infielder Tucipita Marcano.
NFL’s Betting Guidelines
The NFL already has the strictest rules for sports betting among the major sports leagues. Players are banned from betting on any games or related events, such as the draft or combine. Players are allowed to bet only on other sports, and staff members cannot bet on sports at all.
The NFL last suspended players for sports betting in June 2023, with three receiving one-year bans. The most high-profile suspension the league handed out since the 2018 Supreme Court rule change on sports betting was in March 2022, when receiver Calvin Ridley (above) was given a one-year suspension for betting on NFL games, including those of the Falcons—the team he played for at the time—while he was away from the team for personal reasons.
But the country’s richest sports league has yet to institute a lifetime ban due to sports betting, and it’s clearly trying to do all it can to stop it from happening even if most think it’s inevitable.
“It’s only a matter of time,” one league executive told Front Office Sports last month.
The Flip Side
Players have also faced pressure because they are the ones fans’ money is riding on.
Commanders running back Austin Ekeler told Bloomberg that he sees how sports betting, or even fantasy football, can help enhance fan engagement and knowledge of the sport, but on the flip side, he also feels like it can turn “athletes into widgets.”
In the NBA, stars like Tyrese Haliburton have already complained about how dehumanizing it is to be bet on. “To half the world, I’m just helping them make money on DraftKings or whatever. I’m a prop,” Haliburton said in March.
The NCAA is also pushing to stop prop betting at the collegiate level, with president Charlie Baker saying that college athletes have faced “harassment” on top of how it poses a threat to the “integrity of competition.”
