The NBA is in the process of reviewing its policies and exploring methods to protect the league and its players from the risks of legal sports betting. In the wake of the groundbreaking FBI investigation that led to the arrests of Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups and others, the NBA issued a memo to its teams to inform them of its steps toward cementing a safe, fair and honest playing field.
The league said it believes more can be done to protect its integrity, and it singled out prop bets on individual players as a point of concern. It will also review policies regarding injury reporting, the training and education of league personnel and safety measures for its players.
“Given the spread of legal betting to the majority of U.S. states, the recurrence of integrity issues across sports, and the emergence of novel betting formats and markets,” the league said in its memo, “this is an opportune time to carefully reassess how sports betting should be regulated and how sports leagues can best protect themselves, their players, and their fans.”
The NBA placed Rozier and Billups on leave from the Miami Heat and Portland Trail Blazers, respectively, after federal authorities arrested them and more than 30 others last week. Rozier was allegedly involved in a scheme wherein he pulled himself early from a game against the New Orleans Pelicans after bettors placed sizable wagers on his prop bet unders. Billups was charged for allegedly taking part in illegal high-stakes poker games with ties to organized crime.
“With sports betting now occupying such a significant part of the current sports landscape,” the NBA said, “every effort must be made to ensure that players, coaches, and other NBA personnel are fully aware of the dire risks that gambling can impose upon their careers and livelihoods; that our injury disclosure rules are appropriate; and that players are protected from harassment from bettors.”
The review of internal policies and assessment of the gambling environment comes after Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown called out the NBA for lacking in preparing and protecting players from the harsh realities of legal sports betting. Whether it be the dangers of soliciting information to bettors or fans’ regrettable behavior towards players, Brown said there is ample work to be done in keeping players out of harm’s way.
“We also are exploring ways to enhance our existing internal and external integrity monitoring programs to better utilize Al and other tools to synthesize all available data from betting operators, social media, and other sources to identify betting activity of concern,” the NBA said.
