Report: More NFL Players Expected to be Implicated in Sports Gambling Probe

According to Albert Breer at Sports Illustrated there will be more players implicated in gambling investigations that are currently going on:

Colts CB Isaiah Rodgers isn’t the only player the NFL is investigating on the gambling front—rumors have swirled for weeks now that the league’s latest probe into sports betting could implicate a healthy number of guys from across the league.

As you might imagine, Park Avenue is taking this very, very seriously, knowing that it’ll set a tone for how these matters are handled going forward. It’s also a lot more complicated than it used to be, with the league now heavily involved in the business of gambling, with gaming partnerships left and right, and a casino’s name right there on a stadium in New Orleans that’ll host the Super Bowl just 20 months from now (12 months after Las Vegas hosts one).

This looks like it’s going to get nuts, but it’s the world we live in right now. The current NFL rules on gambling state players can bet on sports games that aren’t the NFL, but they can’t bet on any game in a NFL facility. To me the last half of that rule is silly. Sure should players have enough self control to wait to bet until they’re outside the facility? Absolutely. Should you also wait until after church to place bets on the 1pm games? Absolutely. But neither of us do.

What if a player is getting a late night workout in tomorrow night at the facility and realizes it’s 8pm and wants to get a quick bet in on the Finals. Should a player be suspended for that? I don’t think so. Players spend so much time in the facilities that this rule needs some reform.

Where do we cut it off though? I think you should be suspended if you bet on a game involving your team no matter how little the wager is because you have an unfair advantage. But I don’t think Calvin Ridley deserved a year long suspension for betting $500 on NFL parlays. Those are outcomes largely out of his control. But you can’t have other players betting on games since they typically have information not privy to the average gambler which violates league rules. Keep the  rule the same I’d just nix the part about gambling in the facility.

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