Professional sports, including the NFL, have long had a rule that athletes are not allowed to bet on other sports in certain situations, and absolutely not on their own league. This includes NFL players betting on baseball or basketball games while on the road to another game. The reason for this has been that, for the most part, until recently, betting was not very accessible d to keep a good image or look on the players.
Gambling has a long history of becoming addictive and causing people everywhere to lose everything. Not wanting a bad look, sports leagues have just prohibited all athletes from betting while in any team facility, and it has been that way for years.
But change may be coming.
The Perception of Betting Has Changed
Up until about five years ago, when betting started to go more mainstream, the perception around betting was not great. Sure, millions of people did it, but it was viewed almost as something that people did as a guilty pleasure and didn’t particularly talk about in the open. Now, betting has become so mainstream that networks like ESPN have entire shows dedicated around betting lines. One of the most watched segments of Scott Van Pelts SportsCenter is ‘Bad Beats’, which is a segment about bets gone wrong.
With this change in perception, many players believe that betting wherever they go wouldn’t hurt their image or the image of their sport. Falcons defensive end Calais Campbell said. the following regarding players betting:
“I feel like the rules are outdated…There was a time where it made sense, but now with technology and being able to bet on baseball or basketball on your phone, I don’t understand why just because I’m in a locker room that I can’t pick up my phone and [bet].”
Rules that NFL Players Currently Follow
NFL players and personnel have very specific rules they have to follow, including the following:
- Don’t bet on the NFL.
- Don’t gamble at your team facility while traveling for a road game or staying at a team hotel.
- Don’t have someone bet for you.
- Don’t share team “inside information.”
- Don’t enter a sportsbook during the NFL playing season.
- Don’t play daily fantasy football (DFS).
The issue isn’t the first, third, fourth, or sixth rule. The issue comes in the second and fifth. Many feel that with so much access and a changed perception around gambling, where and when a player bets on a sport that is not NFL-related is irrelevant.
Keeping Things Tight
The NFL has a responsibility also to protect its image and brand. While gambling is certainly much more acceptable and accessible if a story were to break of players betting on an NBA game in the locker room before a game, that would put an ugly mark on that team and the organization. In some ways, the NFL has a point in just drawing a line in the sand and saying “No betting while on our property or while preparing in a team setting”.
However, if players and unions can come up with a clear and direct answer to address these concerns, the league will likely listen and be willing to work with players in finding some kind of compromise, such as allowing players to place bets up to 24 hours before a game or allowing bets following practices in the off-season.
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