The NBA and its players’ union support some further limitations on the kind of prop bets that sportsbooks can accept for NBA games.
Representatives for the league and the NBPA said they would be behind looking at more restrictions on prop betting — the kind of wager that allows one to bet money on the points totals and other personal statistics for a player in a game.
Prop betting has become an issue for the NBA and other sports entities since sports betting was legalized seven years ago. Former Raptors center Jontay Porter was banned from the league and pled guilty to a felony in federal court for manipulating his performance to help a group of bettors win their prop bets on him. Terry Rozier and Malik Beasley are also under federal investigations related to sports gambling.
“Protecting the integrity of our game is paramount, and we believe reasonable limitations on certain prop bets should be given due consideration,” an NBA spokesperson said. “Any approach should aim to reduce the risk of performance manipulation while ensuring that fans who wish to place prop bets can continue to do so via legal, regulated markets.”
A spokesperson for the NBPA said the union would be open to creating more limitations around prop betting if it helped diminish the amount of abuse that players receive related to betting.
“NBA players compete at the highest level with the utmost integrity and are concerned that prop bets have become an increasingly alarming source of player harassment, both online and in person,” an NBPA spokesperson said. “If tighter regulations can help minimize that abuse, then we support taking a closer look at them.”
ESPN was the first to report the interest from both sides in limiting prop bets.
The NBA is not the only league trying to deal with issues surrounding prop bets. Major League Baseball recently put two Cleveland Guardians pitchers on leave as it conducts its own investigation related to sports gambling. That led Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to publicly call for sportsbook operators in the state to ban prop bets and to ask the professional sports leagues in the state to get behind his efforts.
A New York State senator introduced a bill this winter that would allow for season-long prop bets but limit in-game or single-game bets that may be “at risk of undue interference, insider trading of information, or other issues that could compromise the integrity and fairness of the sports wagering program.” It was voted unanimously out of committee but has not been passed by the full body yet.
The NCAA is also attempting to stop books from accepting bets on the individual stats of college athletes. Charlie Baker, the NCAA president, has been on a yearlong lobbying effort against it, with buy-in from four states (Ohio, Vermont, Louisiana and Maryland). The NCAA recently signed a deal with Genius Sports that would limit sharing real-time data with sportsbooks that allow prop bets.
The NBA has deals with DraftKings and FanDuel as its official sports betting partners. The two sportsbooks also have similar deals with other professional sports leagues.
“The transparency inherent with legalized sports betting has become a significant asset in protecting the integrity of athletic competition,” a DraftKings spokesperson said. “Unlike the pre-legalization era, when threats were far more difficult to detect, the regulated industry now provides increased oversight and accountability that helps to identify potentially suspicious activity.”
A FanDuel spokesperson declined comment.
Michael Porter Jr., the brother of Jontay Porter, recently discussed the temptation NBA players can sometimes face to manipulate their performances to benefit others.
“Think about it, you get mad at these dudes that do the sports betting, but think about it, if you could get all your homies rich by telling them, ‘Yo, bet $10,000 on my under. This one game I’m going to act like I’ve got an injury, and I’m going to sit out,’ ” Porter said on a podcast. “I’m going to come out after three minutes. And they all get a little bag because you did it one game. That is so not OK, but some people probably think like that. They come from nothing and all their homies have nothing. They’re like, ‘Bro, if I come out of this game after three minutes and y’all hit on my under, we’re all getting a little bag.’”
He then added, “The whole sports gambling entity, it’s bad and it’s only going to get worse. We really do get death threats.”
(Photo of a Las Vegas sportsbook: Kirby Lee / USA Today Sports)