Nfl Gambling Policy
There’s a potential showdown looming between the NFL and close to three dozen players—and it’s over arm wrestling in Las Vegas. The league has previously banned players from doing anything even at a non-casino venue owned by a casino, as they did with fantasy football events Tony Romo was involved with back in 2015 and 2016, but as Jarrett Bell of USA Today writes, that large group of players is in Vegas this weekend for an arm-wrestling championship that takes place at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.
The inaugural “Pro Football Arm Wrestling Championship” is set to air on CBS over two weekends later this spring. It will feature everyone from James Harrison and Marshawn Lynch (as coaches) to Oakland Raiders’ punter Marquette King and San Francisco 49ers linebacker NaVarro Bowman. The league says they’re unhappy they weren’t notified about this, but the organizers dispute that, saying they talked with NFL officials. But the league still wants to potentially punish players for participation here:
Get the latest NFL odds, spreads and betting lines from this week's games, as well as full coverage of the National Football League from USA TODAY. The NFL policy on gambling allows players to gamble in casinos, but not to use their names for promotional appearances such as this arm wrestling competition at the MGM in Las Vegas. Following the suspension of Arizona Cardinals player Josh Shaw, a memo about the NFL sports betting policy has a warning for their players.This comes after an investigation found that Shaw had gambled on multiple NFL games this year at a casino in Las Vegas.
According to the NFL, players participating in this specific event — without pre-approval — are in violation of the gambling policy and subject to discipline.
“Had we been asked in advance if this was acceptable, we would have indicated that it was in direct violation of the gambling policy,” Joe Lockhart, the NFL’s executive vice president for communications and public affairs, told USA TODAY Sports. “No one sought pre-approval.”
…Interestingly, [event organizer Alan] Brickman disputes the contention that pre-approval wasn’t sought from the NFL. He told USA TODAY Sports that, beginning in January, he engaged with two different departments within the league and tried to strike a deal to include the NFL as a partner with the event.
Obviously, the NFL didn’t sign up. Yet Brickman maintains that during communication with the league, guidelines were suggested that included showing no images during the broadcast of any gambling-related activities or any alcohol. He said the power was turned off on gambling machines in the vicinity of the events being taped.
That’s a significant discrepancy, and (presuming Brickman’s story is accurate) one that raises questions about the NFL’s internal communication. Still, the bigger question is what will come of this. Will the NFL try to maintain their previous draconian “no casino-linked events” stance even now that they have a team moving to Vegas? Unlike the Romo events, it seems too late for them to actually shut this down, but they could still try and fine the players involved. Or will the league realize that casino-affiliated events aren’t necessarily going to hurt it?
The basic idea behind the NFL’s stance against casino events isn’t necessarily a bad one. The league needs to ensure that its on-field product isn’t compromised by gamblers; if a story came out on NFL players or officials manipulating games’ outcomes (or even just point spreads), that could harm the league. The Tim Donaghy scandal was a big blow for the NBA. And there’s merit to the NFL being at least somewhat concerned about players’ gambling activities, unlike the PGA and their apparent lack of interest in investigating Phil Mickelson’s million-dollar bets.
However, there’s a big step between “player appears at casino” and “player tries to throw a game.” Policies to prevent players from betting on NFL games make sense, but policies to keep them away from events at casinos seem overly harsh and unnecessary. That’s especially true now that the league is putting a team in Vegas; there could be so many sponsorship opportunities for players there, and nixing all of them because of a blanket “no gambling connections” policy appears silly.
The ban on players participating in casino events also seems a bit hypocritical. For one thing, the NFL has been willing to let its teams do sponsorship deals with daily fantasy sites. While that’s not the same as standard betting, it does involve money changing hands over the outcome of sports contests. (To be fair, they have also let players appear in daily fantasy commercials, but the “We want nothing to do with gambling” stance while they’re taking money from daily fantasy feels a bit silly.)
Beyond that, the deal to move the Raiders to Vegas has a lot to do with gambling. There wouldn’t be the public money there for the stadium deal without gambling and its associated enterprises, and some have questioned how they found $750 million in public money for a NFL stadium when they couldn’t find $14 million for schools. There also wouldn’t be many people in Vegas who could afford NFL ticket prices if not for the gambling industry.
Gambling is a key part of what makes Vegas work, and it’s a big part of what makes the NFL work too. Imagine how much lower the interest in the league would be if no one was betting on it. Telling players they can’t bet on NFL games is fine, but the whole “thou shalt not touch” approach to anything with even minor connections to gambling seems overbearing and unnecessary. Hopefully the league will realize that this arm-wrestling championship in a casino isn’t really a big deal. If not, though, we could be in for another fight between the NFL and its players.
[USA Today]
Nfl Gambling Policy 2020
The NFL’s silence on its gambling policy is deafening, and now the heat is starting to get turned up. Maybe it’s not the silence, but the hypocritical stance the NFL keeps taking when it comes to gambling. USA TODAY’s Brent Schrotenboer’s piece on the NFL’s do one thing but say another strategy proves that the league can’t stay the current course. Whether the league and teams are courting casinos for sponsors, or making it illegal to gamble inside a stadium even though gambling on phones is legal in Las Vegas, it’s all just public posturing.
This is simply about public perception. The NFL has no problem with gambling when it gets to make money off sponsors. They are courting casinos as partners, while telling players they can’t hold events, fundraisers, and conferences on casino grounds. The league is willing to take $750 million dollars in public money to move the Raiders to Sin City, but wants to stress that it is against legalized sports wagering expansion. Wait until Sands, Wynn, or Caesars wants to slap its name on the Las Vegas stadium through a multi-million dollar naming rights deal. It’s way past the point of ‘do as I say, not as I do.’ It’s almost blatantly hypocritical.
The NFL has had the opportunity to change its stance. It would have been easy to come out in concert with the NBA and simply say that maybe the league could benefit from legalized sports gambling. It could even take the high road and say that legalizing gambling — or at least doing research into the effects of legalization — would take away a large revenue stream from organized crime. Instead, Roger Goodell has steadfastly said that gambling has no place in the NFL.
Nfl Gambling Policy
That stance is pretty rich. The NFL is one of the most wagered on leagues in the United States. Spreads are discussed on almost of their television partners programs. The injury report is almost exclusively designed to make sure that people can’t take advantage of inside tips to have a better chance at winning a bet. The NFL and its teams already have official partnership deals with DraftKings and FanDuel. Both companies are involved with gambling even if they call it a different name.
We are way past the point of pretending that football and gambling don’t go hand in hand. It’s almost to the point that the NFL is insulting a large portion of its fans’ intelligence. Maybe it’s all about public relations, but three out of four sports fans are in favor of legalized sports gambling. It’s time to come clean, but there’s no sign of the league changing its stance. That means more articles, social media chatter, and television debates on the NFL’s hypocritical stance.