N.F.L. Suspends Detroit Lions, Washington Commanders Players for Gambling
The recent run of suspensions, the first in decades, comes after the N.F.L. reversed its long-held opposition to sports gambling. In 2017, team owners voted to approve the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas, and a major turning point came in 2018, when the Supreme Court struck down a 1992 law that banned sports wagering in nearly every state. Since then, the N.F.L. and other professional American leagues have forged partnerships with major gambling companies and casinos.
The last cluster of N.F.L. gambling penalties on the same scale as those announced Friday came in 1963, when the Green Bay Packers running back Paul Hornung and the Lions defensive lineman Alex Karras — then two of the league’s biggest stars — were suspended for the season for betting on N.F.L. games. Five other players were also fined for betting on the 1962 championship game.
N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell did not comment on the suspensions issued Friday, but when Ridley’s ban was announced in 2022, he said N.F.L. personnel gambling on football games warranted “the most substantial sanction” because it risked the “integrity of the game.”
Specifics of the five players’ violations were not made public.
In Ridley’s case, he used a gambling app to place three parlay bets in November 2021 while he was in Florida and away from his team. Genius Sports, a company hired by the N.F.L. to provide “comprehensive integrity services to monitor betting,” alerted the N.F.L. that a player might have made the bets, triggering a league investigation.
An N.F.L. spokesman said each year the league informs personnel of policies that prohibit them from placing or facilitating bets on any N.F.L. game, practice or other event, such as the draft. Players are allowed to bet on other sports, but they may not gamble in the workplace or while working, which includes traveling to games or while making promotional appearances on the league’s behalf.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/sports/football/nfl-suspensions-gambling-lions-commanders.html