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Gambling is a big part of football, but should players participate?
Everyone rise. The honorable Judge JP Acosta presiding in Football Court case No. 5621-07, “Should NFL players be allowed to gamble during the season?”
Representing the affirmative —Yes, players should be allowed to gamble:
Representing the negative — No, players should not be allowed to gamble:
Gentleman, you have been sworn in and may begin your arguments.
Football Court is SB Nation.com’s ongoing series where we debate some of the biggest topics in the NFL. Think of it like First Take, but without the performative yelling.
Mark Schofield: Players should be allowed to gamble
NFL players should be allowed to gamble in-season, albeit with one critical caveat.
The NFL itself, including daily fantasy and player prop bets, must remain off limits.
We will turn to that in a moment, but with respect to non-NFL gambling, players should be allowed to bet in-season. That includes placing bets from team facilities, on road trips, at team hotels, and anywhere else the league currently bars such wagering. If a player turns on a random college football game while in the training room at the facility on a Saturday and decides to place a bet, that should be fair game.
If a player is flipping channels in the team hotel on a Saturday night and wants to make the NHL game they are watching a little more exciting, that should be fair game.
The restrictions should be focused on placing bets of any kind on the NFL itself, again including player prop bets and daily fantasy.
Because every betting decision — whether active or passive — is a choice. A choice that, when made by an NFL player themselves, comes from a more knowledgable place than the outside world.
While I understand arguments advanced by players, most recently by Jonathan Jones of the New England Patriots, that players should be allowed to place bets on their team to win, there are implications to consider. If a player bets on their team to win for eight-straight games, and then the following week does not place a bet, what does that passive decision mean? What do they know? Is it simply the fact that their opponent that week is good, or something else?
The same goes for prop bets, or daily fantasy. If a player is constantly hammering the over on a teammate’s yardage over/under, or continually picking that player for their DFS lineups, and they suddenly stop, what does that mean? Is there an injury about to be announced? A lineup change? A new gameplan for the given week?
I also sympathize with learned counsel’s moral argument, yet believe that my learned counsel — and this court — must concede that that Rubicon has already been crossed. The league has opened its doors to betting, and the lNFL has already opened its doors to other vices, such as alcohol sponsors and more.
The NFL has found itself in a tricky position, trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube. But the best possible solution is to ease some of the restrictions in place, while insuring that wagering on the NFL — whether on games themselves or through prop bets and/or daily fantasy — remains off-limits.
James Dator: Players should not be allowed to gamble
NFL players already have to give up so many things for their jobs. They can’t take part in dangerous activities; they can’t ride motorcycles — it’s part of the process when it comes to being an NFL player. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that they don’t gamble as well.
The world has enough gambling content without needing to see the betting slips of players on a weekly basis. This isn’t some puritanical gripe of mine, but I also think generally we should not normalize gambling as much as we do without people understanding just how risky it is. There are very real addictions that come from gambling, and other than a brief footnote an an 800-number, they’re more or less ignored. There’s a major element here for me that players glorifying gambling sets a bad example for kids.
Players can wait until the season is over to place their bets. When they’re in the middle of an NFL season it’s just a recipe for problems to have players focused on their bets on a Saturday night. Everything we’ve seen so far are pretty small, paltry bets — but how long before we have a player dropping $100K or more on a meaningless Conference USA game or worse?
It goes without saying that betting on NFL games by NFL players would be a monumentally bad idea with no caveats on how it should be allowed under any circumstances.
I’m absolutely about adults having the freedom to do what they want, but in this case I think the risks are too large to let this play out.
And now, Judge JP Acosta
Before we get started, reading Judge JP Acosta out loud is pretty freaking cool. Not gonna get drunk with power or anything, but I might just remember how that feels in case I ever wanna go back to school and get another degree.
Ok, now let’s get down to business. I think both sides make a very compelling argument, with Counsel Schofield making his case for NFL players being allowed to gamble. The caveats make it a little safer, but with the NFL becoming more and more involved with legalized gambling, it makes sense to give the players a little bit of leniency.
As for Counsel Dator, the slippery slope that he mentions as a drawback to players being allowed to gamble is a very interesting point. With all of the other risks that are attached to gambling, making it unaccessible to players might just be considered another thing these athletes can’t do.
I can see both sides of the argument here, but ultimately my judgement is in favor of Counsel Dator. Yes, the NFL is now partnering with gambling sites and sharing ad revenue, but that still doesn’t mean that players gambling on NFL games should be ok. The amount of information that NFL players and staff alike have that could change betting lines is infinite, and too big of a risk for the NFL to have allegations of players possibly throwing games due to a betting line.
At the end of the day, like Counsel Schofield said, betting is a choice—active or passive—and if players with inside information make that choice, it could throw both the NFL and betting systems out of whack.
