NFL lays out their approach to legalized sports betting, responsible gambling Monday

With 10 days until football's opening night as the defending Super Bowl Champions Philadelphia Eagles host their NFC East rival Dallas Cowboys on Thursday, Sept. 4 (8:20 p.m. ET), the National Football League held a video call on Monday to discuss the league's position on a variety of gambling topics featuring prediction markets, harassment of players due to irate bettors and micro betting.

A far cry from more than seven years ago when America's most popular league didn't want to have anything to do with the industry.

In a three-page presentation, the NFL laid out their approach to legalized sports betting and responsible gambling emphasizing five categories: Integrity First, Education & Accountability, Protecting Our People, Commitment to Responsible Gambling, and Thoughtful Partnerships.

The league restated their clear rules that all players, coaches, and staff are required to learn and comply with strict gambling policies designed to prevent any undue influence on NFL games.

NFL Gambling Policy: Six Main Rules for NFL Players

1. NEVER bet on the NFL
2. Don’t have someone bet for you
3. Don’t gamble (no bets on sports, casino, card games) at your team facility/stadium, while traveling for a road game or staying at a team hotel
4. Don’t share inside information (hasn’t been announced by the league or team)
5. Don’t enter a sportsbook during the NFL playing season
6. Don’t play daily fantasy football

Gambling policy signage is displayed in all team facilities. Throughout the NFL season, players receive policy reminders on their mobile devices.

All NFL players, whether rookies and veterans, receive mandatory annual, in-person education on the league’s gambling policy, developed in collaboration with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA). Training is led by the NFL's Compliance staff, club player engagement staff, or former NFL players.

The full NFL Gambling Policy is distributed to all players annually, which players must sign and acknowledge. Player agents and the NFLPA are also provided with training and resources.

NFL on its Prediction Market Stance

With the ever-changing fluidity of prediction markets in the country, the NFL has added it to their "Don't Do It" list. Players and all league employees are forbidden to use prediction markets.

“Our view is that these platforms mimic sports betting and that they are covered as prohibited conduct under our policy, and that will be for all of our personnel. And now we’re educating on this point as well, specifically stating that engaging in these platforms would be prohibited under the policy," said Sabrina Perel, NFL vice president and chief compliance officer on the call.

“I think what’s important about the sports betting markets right now that are legal is they have robust protections that include information-sharing between sportsbooks and the leagues. There are integrity-monitoring requirements. There are prohibitions on certain types of wagers or markets that are more subject to influence. And there’s the requirements sometimes to use consistent and reliable official league data. And there’s also mandatory responsible betting requirements and resources," said David Highhill, NFL Vice President of Sports Betting. “

“I think for us, the key distinction is that for now, prediction markets lack certain regulatory requirements that we know regulated sportsbooks are subject to, like information-sharing, responsible betting tools, the objectionable bet-prohibitions. So, however this comes to be through the legal channels, I think it’s really important that we take advantage of the robust framework that we put in place via the legalized sports betting process."

Microbets not in favor

The league continues to pressure sportsbooks and state regulators to outlaw microbetting.

Microbetting is a form of sports betting where wagers are placed on very specific, short-term outcomes within a game, rather than the overall result. These bets focus on granular events, such as the outcome of a single play, or whether a specific player will score in the next few minutes. It’s designed to be fast-paced, allowing bettors to engage with live, in-game action in real time.

“Something that’s been in the news we’ve been very focused on since the initiation of our work in this area has been proactively prohibiting certain types of wagers that we think provide the minimum expanded engagement and could also present higher risk to the betting markets,” said Highhill. “We’ve been consistent with those over the years. Those include prohibiting any type of officiating-related wagers, things that are inherently objectionable, like player injuries, and as well single-player bets that are 100 percent controllable by a single player on a single play. So, things like ‘Will this kicker miss a field goal?’ are things that we’ve worked collaboratively across the board with operators to make sure those types of wagers are not offered.

Irate bettors harassing players

The NFLPA has logged reports of fan abuse toward players and is known to support enhanced protocols to protect players’ safety, mental health, and their families, however, the NFLPA has not made public an official stance on prop bets or microbets.

Jeff Miller, the NFL's executive vice president of public affairs and policy, and player health and safety, said they are aware that abuse of players happens and those found to have made such threats are subject to banishment from stadiums and legal action.

“Just to be clear, not every threat made to a player has anything to do with gambling, but some may be because individuals are upset about legalized sports gambling going wrong in some circumstance,” said Miller. “It’s a very real-world issue and it’s one that we take with the utmost seriousness.”

One thing is for sure, from one play to the next, the league is keenly focused on the integrity of the game for fans, players, coaching staffs, and personnel.