The National Football League has reportedly increased its player education efforts regarding the league’s gambling policy after an offseason in which zero players were suspended for violating any of the policies.
League officials will now require every NFL player to receive in-person training on the NFL’s gambling policy, a shift from the optional in-person training that the NFL allowed in previous seasons.
Sabrina Perel, the NFL’s chief compliance officer, said the league opted to make the change following previous success with in-person education.
“We learned from last year, when in-person education was optional, the benefits of presenting in-person, including increased engagement and awareness, the opportunity for players to ask questions,” she said, per the Associated Press.
“So for all 32 teams this year, the education was conducted at the team facility during minicamps or training camp,” she said.
The NFL has now gone 13 months without a single player being suspended for violating the terms of the gambling policies in any way.
The six main parts of the NFL’s gambling policy, as stated on the league website, are as follows:
NEVER bet on the NFL: Includes other NFL events such as Draft, Combine, Pro Bowl, & NFL Honors.
- Don’t have someone bet for you: Do not ask family, friends, or others to place a bet for you.
- Don’t gamble (no bets on sports, casino, or card games) at your team facility/stadium, while traveling for a road game, or staying at a team hotel.
- Don’t share team ‘inside information’: Don’t share information that hasn’t been announced by team.
- Don’t enter a sportsbook during the NFL playing season.
- Don’t play daily fantasy football.
This updated education policy follows the spring and summer periods in 2023, during which 10 players were suspended for violating the league’s policies, though according to The Athletic, none of these players had attempted to fix games to assist their betting.
A total of 25 employees of NFL teams or the league itself were suspended at some point during the 2023 season for betting in some manner; however, the extent of this betting is unknown at this time.
Any player who violates the league’s policy for betting on non-NFL events can face a two-game suspension without pay for the first violation, a six-game suspension without pay for the second violation, and a year-long suspension for a third violation.
Players who bet on NFL games in which they take part are subject to an indefinite suspension from the league that will be a minimum of one year long, while those found to be fixing games will be permanently banned from the league.
The NFL has also chosen to extend its partnership with the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) through a new three-year grant worth $6.4 million, per the AP. This is an increase from the original three-year deal worth $6.2 million signed in 2021.
Data provided by the NCPG indicates that there has been a 103.98% increase in the number of calls, texts, and messages sent to the national gambling helpline since 2020, per the AP.
Jeffrey Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications, public affairs, and policy, said the league wants to stay ahead of any new gambling trends as sports betting continues to become more common in the everyday world.
“The world has changed dramatically as it relates to sports betting, and it’s incumbent on us maintaining the integrity of our game against those new challenges that have come up the last few years,” he explained, according to the AP.
