NFL players want to see changes in gambling policy

After the NFL already relented somewhat on punitive punishments on gambling violations — the league cut short suspensions for Jameson Williams and Nicholas Petit-Frere, among others early in the 2023 season — some players are pushing for more reforms.

In a story from Sports Business Journal, a pair of NFL players — who are both in leadership positions with the NFLPA — sounded off on the need for more changes to the gambling policy. Veteran defensive lineman Calais Campbell and defensive back Michael Thomas both find the current iteration of the policy to be overbearing.

“I feel like the rules are outdated,” Campbell said. “There was a time where it made sense, but now with technology and being able to bet on baseball or basketball on your phone, I don’t understand why just because I’m in a locker room or on a Wednesday or whatever, that I can’t pick up my phone and [bet]. Nobody wants to have a guy betting on football. That’s not OK. But, you know, with technology the way it is and you can tell exactly what people are betting on, and you know it has nothing to do with the integrity of the game, why not give us this opportunity to be able to make money when we’re doing that as a league?”

To keep using Williams as an example, the second-year wide receiver was suspended initially for six games for placing bets on non-NFL sporting events from the Detroit Lions facility, something that Campbell and Thomas don’t think should be prohibited. Evidently the league already conceded some ground on that issue, as Williams was reinstated after serving a portion of his suspension. Williams had been suspended along with a bevy of other players at the end of the offseason.

That suspension, along with a number of others, was reduced as a result of negotiations between the league and NFLPA, dropping the suspension from six games to two, in Williams’ case. The NFL did not, however, back off the rules about wagering from team facilities or on road trips. The leeway was granted as a seeming one-time bit of relief as players argued they were not properly educated about the finer points of the league’s gambling policies.

The policies drew immediate blowback when the six-game suspensions were handed down, drawing ire from current players at the time.

And as Campbell made clear, the concessions that players will be seeking in the NFL’s gambling policy — which the league sets without approval from the NFLPA, unlike many policies — will be about allowing wagering on non-NFL sports. There’s a clear understanding that a strong firewall must exist between players and betting on their own contests.

But at a time when the NFL itself is partnering with casinos and online sports betting companies, and placing a wager on an NBA game or ones alma mater in football is just a few clicks away on an app, the players are pushing to not be punished for taking part, no matter where they are.

“Even our fans don’t see us betting on another sport that’s not the NFL as threatening the integrity of the game,” Thomas said. “So it’s just trying to make more changes that make sense. That’s common sense. And moving forward, I think that’s what we’re just trying to do.”