The NFL’s rules on gambling have generated widespread criticism and questions main as much as the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, as the league goals to steadiness its sportsbook partnerships and insurance policies stopping gamers from betting on video games.
Gambling was a significant matter of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s annual Super Bowl information convention Monday, when he stated the “integrity of the league” was the prime precedence.
“We want to make sure that when people are watching NFL games, they know the action on the field is genuine and without any outside influence, ” Goodell stated.
With the marquee sports activities occasion days away in the U.S. betting hub, it’s price revisiting the NFL’s insurance policies for its gamers and the way the league’s stance has modified over time.
NFL rules on sports activities betting
The league has lengthy maintained that gamers are not allowed to guess on NFL occasions. Its 2023 gambling coverage states that gamers can by no means place, solicit or facilitate a guess — both straight or by way of a 3rd occasion — on “any NFL game, practice, or other event, such as the Combine or Draft.”
Players are additionally not allowed to take part in anybody else’s NFL betting actions, reminiscent of asking somebody to position an NFL-related guess on their behalf or permitting one other individual to make use of their account to position an NFL-related guess.
Additionally, gamers might not enter a sportsbook throughout the NFL season (from the Hall of Fame Game by way of the Super Bowl) “except to access an area outside of a sportsbook,” the rules state. For instance, a participant can go by way of a sportsbook “where necessary” to get to a separate a part of an leisure, on line casino or lodge complicated.
At the Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers are each staying in Lake Las Vegas, about 25 miles east of the Strip.
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The league’s rules are additionally explicit about when and the place gamers might gamble.
Players are prohibited from gambling in group or league services (reminiscent of observe services, stadiums and places of work) or whereas touring with their groups (reminiscent of on a group aircraft or in a group lodge) to take part in an NFL sport or in-season group exercise.
Can NFL gamers guess on different sports activities?
Players are allowed to guess on sports activities apart from the NFL in states the place betting is authorized, topic to the NFL’s rules on coming into a sportsbook and betting from the office.
For instance, a participant might not place a guess from an NFL facility even when the guess isn’t on an NFL sport. Detroit Lions receiver Jameson Williams and Tennessee Titans offensive sort out Nicholas Petit-Frere have been disciplined this season for violating the rule. They initially obtained six-game suspensions, however the league up to date its gambling coverage in September, lowering the penalty from six video games to 4.
Betting on non-NFL occasions in the office or whereas working now carries a two-game suspension for the first violation, six video games for a second offense and at the least one yr for a 3rd offense.
What are the gambling rules for the Super Bowl?
Members of the two Super Bowl groups, the Chiefs and 49ers, are prohibited from taking part in any type of gambling, together with on line casino video games and betting on any sport.
Players on the different 30 groups might have interaction in “legal gambling” — however not on the NFL, they usually can’t go in a sportsbook till the Super Bowl is over, the league stated.
Jeff Miller, the NFL govt vp of communications, public affairs and coverage, stated final week: “The rules are no different for the participating teams’ players and other personnel as they would be for any other game: When on business, there is no gambling, whether it be sports gambling or otherwise.
“And any player, coach, personnel, yours truly, who would be caught or identified gambling at a casino would be eligible for the disciplinary process, and that would be addressed in the normal course of discipline as we would any player or other personnel who there was evidence that was violating the rules around gambling.”
NFL’s disciplinary course of for gambling violations
Violations of the NFL’s gambling coverage are determined by Goodell or his designee on a case-by-case foundation, in line with the 2023 rules.
“Discipline may include, without limitation, a fine, suspension, termination of employment and/or banishment from the NFL for life,” the rules state.
Below are the baseline suspensions for violations of the gambling coverage, “with possible upward or downward adjustments,” in line with the rules, which word: “Nothing in this policy precludes the commissioner from imposing more discipline for other types of prohibited conduct.”
- Betting on NFL: Indefinite suspension, minimal of 1 yr or minimal of two years if a participant bets on an NFL sport involving his group
- Actual or tried sport fixing: Permanent banishment from the NFL
- Inside info and tipping: Indefinite suspension, minimal of 1 yr
- Third-party or proxy betting: Indefinite suspension, minimal of 1 yr
- Betting (apart from NFL) in the office or whereas working:
- First violation: Two-game suspension with out pay
- Second violation: Six-game suspension with out pay
- Third violation: Suspension with out pay for at the least one yr
How has the NFL’s stance on gambling modified?
The Athletic’s Mike Jones defined in a latest article how the NFL’s sophisticated relationship with sports activities betting has advanced:
Since the legalization of sports activities gambling, the NFL has labored onerous to stroll a tightrope in terms of partnering with firms reminiscent of Caesars, FanDuel and DraftKings and likewise guaranteeing that gamers keep away from actions that will compromise the integrity of the sport. The league has but to launch figures on how a lot income partnerships with gambling firms generate, however in line with the American Gaming Association (AGA), the NFL brings in $2.3 billion per yr in earnings due to these offers.
League officers lengthy frowned upon betting on NFL video games and fearful that involvement would result in participant involvement and questions on the temptation to repair video games. But as soon as the Supreme Court in 2018 overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, they felt the have to evolve as nicely.
“The relationship that the league has with sports gambling changed for one specific reason, and that is because the world changed,” Miller stated on the league’s efforts to advertise accountable sports activities betting practices. “The Supreme Court overturned (the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) back in 2018, five years and some odd months ago. As a result, we had to rethink how we engage with legalized sports gambling, and that’s what we’ve done. … And we’ll continue to look at and examine how we do that in the hopes that we can be the best we can to protect the integrity of the game in a world where the rules changed.”
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(Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
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