NFL Players Adjust to Updated Gambling Policy

The NFL re-emphasized its gambling policy for players ahead of the 2024 season, as multiple team members have now faced warnings or discipline from the league for making football-related wagers.

Gambling policy trainings have become mandatory for all players and related personnel, while additional signage is posted in club buildings. Every NFL contract signed by players includes a clause requiring them to uphold the “integrity of the game.”

“We spend a lot of time focusing on that, educating, making sure that all of our personnel are aware of our gambling policies, in this case or any other policy that can affect the integrity of our game,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said before the 2024 Super Bowl. “So, ultimately, that’s our primary job.”

Can NFL players bet on NFL games?

No. The league expressly prohibits its players from betting on NFL games or other league events such as the NFL Draft and Pro Bowl festivities. In 2022, receiver Calvin Ridley was suspended indefinitely for betting on NFL games during the prior season. He ended up being sidelined for the entire 2022 season.

NFL players are also unable to use others to bet for them. However, the rules don’t prevent NFL players from betting on other sports, including college football.

Can NFL players go to casinos?

NFL players are allowed to gamble, but can’t do so at team-run facilities, from team hotels or while traveling for road games. They are also not allowed to enter a sportsbook during the NFL season.

Notably, Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers players stayed about 25 miles away from the Las Vegas Strip when the Super Bowl was played there in 2024. 

Can NFL players play fantasy football?

Fantasy gaming has been allowed by the NFL for years, though there has been a cap on the amount of money players can win via these leagues. At one time, that limit was reported to be $250.

On the other hand, players are not allowed to play daily fantasy football, which falls under the league’s football gambling ban.

Can coaches bet on games?

Unlike players, coaches (and other team personnel) are banned from betting on any sports. 

How does the NFL catch players for gambling?

During and around each game, third-party monitors, aided by automated work done by Genius Sports, review betting activity for potential leaks or misbehavior. There is also an NFL integrity representative assigned to each team who works with local law enforcement and supports investigations into potential violations of the league’s gambling-related rules. 

“The world has changed dramatically as it relates to sports betting, and it’s incumbent on us maintaining the integrity of our game against those new challenges that have come up the last few years,” NFL executive Jeff Miller said in August 2024.

What is the penalty for NFL players betting on football?

In September 2023, the NFL announced a change to its gambling policy. The updated rules include a minimum one-year ban for players betting on NFL games, with permanent banishment if the player attempts to fix a game. Betting on non-NFL action from the workplace, meanwhile, now comes with a two-game suspension for the first violation.

Which NFL players have been punished for betting on the NFL? 

Besides Calvin Ridley’s 2022 suspension for betting on NFL games, numerous smaller-name pros have been punished for related offenses. 

In February 2024, Goodell said that more than a dozen players had faced consequences for gambling violations. Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams was ultimately suspended for four games in 2023 for using a mobile betting app from the team’s headquarters. 

“If you want to know why everybody is getting busted? They are using this at the facility. And this traces where you were at,” Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton said while holding a cellphone in 2023 as he criticized the league’s approach.

Rookies Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers reportedly called off a $10,000 friendly wager over which former LSU teammate would win the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award this spring after being educated on the league’s gambling policies.