Sports gambling is arguably the most prominent it has ever been, with all major sports leagues embracing betting to their fans. One of the unintended consequences of this has been players getting caught breaking league rules by gambling. This has been in smaller forms like Jontay Porter betting on his own unders and then underperforming on purpose, or larger scales like Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups in the federal gambling case currently being investigated.
This has led the NBA to scramble and figure out how they can maintain the revenue of sports gambling while disincentivizing players to break rules by joining themselves. And while it’s not something they can likely ever do away with entirely, it appears they have found some things to work on.
It was recently reported that the NBA is enacting a handful of new policies to help curb the sports gambling issues from players and coaches, beginning with injury reporting rules related to Billups’ case, via David Purdum of ESPN:
The NBA is attempting to reduce the value of inside information and combat performance manipulation as it reacts to the federal indictments of a current player, a head coach and a former player in gambling cases, according to a memo sent to all teams Friday.
The league is considering potential policy changes to address tanking, increase the frequency of injury reporting and restrict what sportsbooks offer, according to the memo.
The NBA solicited input from teams and reviewed a set of proposed changes with the board of governors before identifying six areas for potential change, according to the memo, which was obtained by ESPN. In addition to tanking, injury reporting and prop bets, the league plans to upgrade its education program on gambling, adopt new measures to protect players, coaches and team personnel from harassment from sports bettors, and enhance its ability to investigate unusual betting activity, the memo states.
The league might also make some bigger changes to curb end-of-season tanking and the gambling issues that come along with it, via Shams Charania of ESPN:
The NBA has begun to gather input from its owners and general managers on new ways to combat tanking in the aftermath of the gambling scandal that rocked the league at the start of the season, sources told ESPN.
At a board of governors meeting Friday, the league presented several ideas around potential modifications to rules regarding draft pick protections, the draft lottery and other possible approaches, according to multiple sources.
In recent years, multiple teams have either shut down players early or sat players for games to try to improve their draft positioning, often tied to a protected pick. Sources said multiple ideas were proposed as a brainstorming measure to combat tanking, including:
• Limiting pick protections to either top four or 14 and higher, which would eliminate the problematic mid-lottery protections.
• No longer allowing a team to draft in the top four two years in a row.
• Locking lottery positions after March 1.
It’s good to see the league finally making important changes like limiting player prop betting. That not only prevents players from cheating, but could also do some work towards helping rampant gambling addiction in the sports world.
It remains to be seen, though, if injury reporting rules and tanking rules will have any impact, as the league has been looking to fix those for years, with no major success.
JJ Redick calls for consistency on NBA officiating
Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick has a tendency to let his emotions show on the sidelines, and he did that against the L.A. Clippers.
The Lakers lost to the Clippers, 103-88, while down three starters, Gabe Vincent and losing Luka Doncic at halftime.
The referees, unfortunately, played a factor in the loss as well.
After the loss, Redick sounded off on the officiating and called for the NBA to address the lack of consistency in calls as he has not been receiving feedback when reaching out to the league.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
