Will More NFL Players be Suspended for Gambling?

According to ESPN’s David Purdum, the NFL is apparently looking into further possible infractions before the start of the 2023 season, a month after the league punished five players for gambling. Although the specifics of what or who might be punished are unknown, the league has already established guidelines for how it would deal with players and personnel who wager on games or do so at team facilities. The NFL appears to be taking the initiative and use creativity to investigate less overt attempts to place bets, the potential for people to influence the behavior of particular waiters, and/or the management of inside information.

After the NFL found that wide receiver Calvin Ridley had placed bets on NFL games, he was given what ultimately turned out to be a one-year suspension in 2022. Ridley ended up being traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars. His initial punishment was an indeterminate suspension.

Quintez Cephus of the Detroit Lions, C.J. Moore of the Lions, and Shaka Toney of the Washington Commanders will all serve similar suspensions after the league discovered that, like Ridley, they also wagered on NFL games. Jameson Williams and Stanley Berryhill, two Lions receivers, were only punished for six regular-season games as a result of their wagering on non-NFL games at NFL establishments.

Miles Austin, the wide receivers coach for the New York Jets, was also suspended in 2022 for at least a year for betting on table games and non-NFL games while using team facilities. Josh Shaw, a former Arizona Cardinals safety, was one among the first athletes penalized after the NFL discovered that he had placed bets on games in 2019. He last played for the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL in 2021 after serving a one-year suspension.

When sports betting became legal in 2018, the NFL accepted it and has since firmly bonded with a number of significant partners. In-game analysis and gambling information are now more closely linked than ever before, and sportsbooks can even run inside of team stadiums.

The NFL is in the uncomfortable position of being a sports gambling promoter and also the policeman to make sure players don’t get involved in what the NFL is promoting. When sports betting became legal in 2018, the NFL accepted it and is now all-in with a number of significant partners. There is no doubt that in-game analysis and gambling information are now more closely linked than ever before, and you can even find sportsbooks inside of team stadiums.

Given the NFL’s anti-gambling policy, which players and team employees are trained through written reminders and meetings, this juxtaposition appears both hypocritical and greedy. But now that more people are being suspended for acting in ways that are simultaneously thrust in their faces every day, problems are starting to arise.

The NFLPA reportedly sent a note to agents earlier this month cautioning them that the league may track its players’ usage of sports betting apps, which contributed to the bans in April.

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