The NFL is reinforcing its gambling policy to its current a future players as sports betting has not only become in-your-face prevalent, but exceedingly easy to do.
“The world has changed over the last few years,” said Jeff Miller, the NFL executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy, according to ESPN. “The availability of our phones and [with] a couple of touches, and all of a sudden, you can place a bet on many different things was not available a few years ago and is available now.”
As announced in Tuesday’s media availability, it is now required for rookies to attend education sessions of the league’s gambling policies.
NFL officials also will be visiting teams to emphasize the rules.
Players are given these guidelines to follow: Don’t bet on the NFL, don’t gamble at your team facility or while traveling with the team, don’t have someone bet for you, don’t share “inside information,” don’t enter a sportsbook during the playing season and don’t participate in daily fantasy football.
Some of the league’s athletes have had a hard time staying within those boundaries, especially this year.
On April 21 the NFL handed out suspensions to the Lions’ Stanley Berryhill III, Jameson Williams, Quintez Cephus and C.J. Moore as well as to the Commanders’ Shaka Toney.
Each players’ punishment varied in length
Most recently, the league opened an investigation against the Colts’ Isaiah Rodgers.
It’s believed the cornerback was betting on his own team among other things.
“So, sports gambling has a great deal more presence in people’s lives than it did just a few short years ago, which means for us as [a] sports league — where integrity of the game is the highest single principle — that we have to be thoughtful and careful and scrutinize how we share information and educate people around the rules that govern it,” Miller said.
The NFL is going to put a greater effort into monitoring the policy enforcement, bringing in external firms and the sportsbooks themselves to help the overall process.
Sabrina Perel, NFL vice president and chief compliance officer, said the sportsbooks will alert the league if a player submits a bet under his name.
She also spoke about geolocation to help trace bets back to the athletes’ homes or team facilities.
The NFL is fully cracking down — you can bet on that.