During the regular season, NFL players are allowed to gamble on almost anything that doesn’t involve the NFL, but that won’t be the case for the the Chiefs and 49ers when they arrive in Las Vegas for Super Bowl LVIII.
With the NFL’s biggest game being played in Sin City this year, the league has decided to get tough on gambling: The NFL will be implementing a new stricter policy that will only apply to the Chiefs and 49ers (It won’t apply to any player on the 30 other teams).
The new rule is simple: If you play for the Chiefs or 49ers, you’re not allowed to gamble while you’re in Vegas. You can’t play casino games, you can’t bet on sports, you can’t do anything.
The league is doing its best to keep the Chiefs and 49ers from all the action. The two teams will be staying in separate hotels that are more than 15 miles away from the strip.
The NFL outlined the new Super Bowl gambling policy in a memo that was sent out in September and obtained by Front Office Sports. Although these strict rules will be in place for the two Super Bowl teams, that won’t be the case for the other players in the NFL. If any player who’s NOT playing in the game decides to make a trip to Vegas for Super Bowl week, they’re allowed to gamble all they want with two exceptions: They can’t bet on the NFL and they’re not allowed to go into any sports books (unless they have to walk through one to get where they’re going).
If you’re wondering how any of this differs from the NFL’s normal policy, here’s a quick breakdown:
Normal policy: NFL players can gamble in casinos AND bet on sports, except for the NFL.
Super Bowl policy: Players participating in the game are NOT allowed to gamble on anything at all while in Vegas.
Under a new policy that was implemented in September, any player who gets caught betting on the NFL will face at least a one-year suspension. If the player was betting on his own team, then he’ll face a two-year suspension.
Any player who bets on sports while at a team facility or taking part in team travel will face a two-game suspension. For instance, a player is allowed to bet on college basketball as long as he does it on his own time and away from the team. If he places the bet from a team facility, he’ll be facing a two-game suspension.
The NFL has handed out more than 10 gambling suspensions since 2018 and the league is clearly trying to make the new policy clear so that it doesn’t have to hand out anymore.
As for the Super Bowl, the big game will be kicking off at 6:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 11 on CBS and streaming on Paramount+ with the 49ers or Lions playing the Chiefs or Ravens.