This was inevitable.

This was inevitable in a world where you can’t go five minutes without seeing JB Smoove chopping it up with the Manning clan in another Caesars Sportsbook TV advertisement. Sports wagering is prevalent in today’s society. Actually, it has always been prevalent on the black market, but now you can place a bet in 35 states (and Washington, D.C.) and we’ve reached the point where sports books are being constructed in some NFL stadiums.

Ever hear of the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans? There’s FanDuel, DraftKings and the list goes on and on, the commercials running on an endless loop. The Athletic itself has an entire sports betting vertical and a business relationship with BetMGM.

It’s omnipresent in our modern culture, and it’s largely accepted.

It’s no surprise, then, that we are now learning about several violations of the NFL’s gambling policy by players using one of those apps that turn a cell phone into a personal sportsbook. It’s led to the suspensions of five NFL players, and now it has impacted the Indianapolis Colts, where starting cornerback Isaiah Rodgers Sr. is being investigated for placing football bets — reportedly including several on his own team — and doing so from the team facility. There are reports that a second wave of gambling policy violations is on its way.

He has already issued a statement apologizing for his actions, but it figures to be too little, too late. Rodgers, who wasn’t on the field Wednesday for OTAs, is looking at a perilous future here in Indianapolis. The season is in question, and there may be penalties beyond that.

Not only is he being accused of gambling on football, but also he’s being investigated for betting on his own team. Whether he bet them to win or lose games remains an open question, but not unimportant. Because if he bet against the Colts, football sleuths will then have to watch the film of several of the team’s unspeakably odd losses last season and look for signs of game-fixing. In which case, it becomes a massive legal issue.

“All I’ll say on that is that it’s an ongoing investigation with the NFL right now,” Colts coach Shane Steichen said Wednesday. He was asked several other questions regarding the Rodgers probe but largely side-stepped them.

“We’re constantly in an ongoing process of educating our players and coaches on the situation. And beyond that, I will have no further comment going forward.”

Let’s get this out of the way now: If, in fact, the league determines that Rodgers was gambling, the NFL has to throw the book at him. A year or even more seems perfectly reasonable.

Rodgers may have won some of his bets, but he comes out of this a gigantic loser. This season is in question, at the very least. His entire football career may be in peril, a very big deal for a developing player who is in the final year of his deal and is/was looking at being one of the Colts’ two top cornerbacks (along with Kenny Moore).

And if the reports, which began with Sports Handle’s Matt Rybaltowski, are accurate, it wasn’t like Rodgers didn’t know what he was doing. Again, there were hundreds of bets. They were made on a friend’s account. He knew the score and didn’t care. The rules didn’t apply.

“I know I have made mistakes and I am willing to do whatever it takes to repair the situation,” Rodgers shared in his statement. “The last thing I ever wanted to do was to be a distraction to the Colts organization, my coaches, and my teammates. … I made an error in judgment and am going to work hard to make sure that those mistakes are rectified through this process.”

This is not going to end well.

Consider the other suspensions:

• Detroit’s Jameson Williams and Stanley Berryhill got popped six games over evidence they bet on other sports, notably college football, while they were at the practice facility. (Understand, NFL players can bet on non-NFL games, but they are forbidden to do so while they are in the facility or engaging in a team-based activity.)

• Detroit’s C.J. Moore and Quintez Cephus were suspended a full year when evidence showed they bet on NFL games.

• Washington’s Shaka Toney was suspended indefinitely for betting on NFL games.

• Calvin Ridley, among the first to get caught up in the dragnet, put the Falcons on a six-game parlay and was suspended a year — even while he was on injured reserve.

Honestly, it’s very simple.

Don’t bet on NFL football.

Don’t bet on it anywhere. Don’t bet on your team, other teams, none of them.

There’s been some confusion about the fine print of the policy; some players don’t seem to be aware they can’t bet on anything — cricket, softball, anything — while they’re at work in the team facility or at the stadium.

But this part is not at all complicated: Don’t bet on NFL games. That’s plain English.

I understand the argument that this ranks as the height of hypocrisy. The leagues and their teams are in bed with the FanDuels and DraftKings and the like. Sports wagering is everywhere. You simply can’t escape it.

So, maybe you ask this question: If it’s legal in Indiana, why can’t Rodgers bet on the NFL?

This is about protecting the integrity of the game, far more potentially egregious than a team using deflated footballs. As it stands, fans often watch games and believe the fix is in, that officials are on the take, or whatever. The one thing pro sports must protect is the sanctity of fair competition. When NFL players bet on the NFL, it undermines the hard-won assumption that all games are on the up-and-up.

We can only hope the Colts player that was betting on them didn’t this game…

A bad beat that will stick with you forever 🫣 pic.twitter.com/lulMHyrhyL

— BettingPros (@BettingPros) June 5, 2023

It’s not that these players didn’t know. Of course, they knew. The league, the NFLPA, they’ve both made sure the players and coaches are educated on the gambling policy. There are signs in the locker room. There have been meetings with the league and the NFLPA. Just this past week, the Colts met again with league officials to discuss the matter of gambling.

“This year, we had a meeting with compliance people talking about the do’s and don’ts … talking about what we can and can’t do,” Colts linebacker and team captain Zaire Franklin said this week on Indianapolis sports-talk radio. “They’re doing their best to get the information out. It’s a new element to the game and, with that, we’ve got to be conscious of the new guidelines.”

What used to be scandalous is now fully accepted in our culture. I’m old enough to remember when the idea of placing a team or a tournament in Las Vegas was viewed as an invitation to trouble. Now, Vegas has hockey, football and will likely soon have baseball.

Suffice it to say Rodgers’ career with the Colts is in serious peril, and beyond that, his football career, which once held so much promise, is also on shaky ground. And he’s going to be far from the last one to have his feet held to the fire. More investigations and findings of violations are likely down the road.

This was inevitable.

And now the NFL has to get a handle on it, quickly, or things are going to get ugly.

(Photo of Isaiah Rodgers Sr.: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)