ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Friday that the NBA has notified its teams that the league will be enacting multiple sports betting policies, including changes to injury reporting rules, and is looking to address a tanking problem that has been prevalent in the league for years.
The news comes as professional sports leagues seek to limit the scope of proprietary betting following a federal investigation that has brought criminal charges against members of the NBA and MLB in a gambling scandal that threatens integrity.
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Notably, Charania reports that the NBA is urging gaming companies to change proprietary betting regarding individual players.
He listed specific examples of these potential changes:
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Limit the maximum amount that can be bet
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Limit the number of players
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Eliminate problematic bet types, such as betting on an action within a single game
The “Unders” have come under particular scrutiny in recent months after NBA guard Terry Rozier was one of more than 30 people arrested by the FBI in connection with two separate illegal gambling-related cases. He was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
According to investigators, Rozier played only about 10 minutes for the Charlotte Hornets before a game in March 2023 after he allegedly shared inside information about his early exit, allegedly causing his co-conspirators to bet more than $200,000 on his small bets.
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Former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones was also arrested. Jones, 49, named in both indictments, allegedly used his NBA connections to share inside information with bettors for profit, including medical information that had not been released to the public.
Jones’ case raises greater questions about the NBA’s load management, and more specifically, the obscure injuries that unexpectedly sideline players for entire seasons. While load management can help extend player longevity over the course of a season and career, it can also have a negative impact on the fan experience, as fans often miss out on seeing the players they pay to watch perform in action.
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According to Charania, teams must now resubmit their injury list between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. local time. They must also update public reports every 15 minutes, according to Charania.
These modifications should give fans and/or bettors a clearer picture of injuries and may limit anyone with information on a player’s rest from taking advantage of it.
The third person with direct ties to the NBA to be arrested in this fall’s scandal is Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. In March 2023, someone matching Billups’ description allegedly informed Eric Earnest, one of the six defendants, that a group of the Trail Blazers’ top players would not play against the Chicago Bulls. Ernest allegedly passed on this inside information, and the conspirators bet more than $100,000 on the Trail Blazers before the information became public and the betting lines changed dramatically. The Trail Blazers were 32-40 at the time and on the verge of missing the playoffs, but they lost convincingly and those bets paid off.
In this way, as Yahoo Sports’ Ben Rohrbach wrote in October, the NBA’s load management and tanking issues are intertwined.
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As for losing, Charania reported on Friday that the NBA told its teams that it has conducted another review of potential league policy changes that could reduce the incentive for bottom-tier teams to lose. Charania said that includes possible changes to draft pick protection rules, as well as possible changes to draft lottery rules.
The league has tried to combat the slump by playing tournaments and flattening lottery odds.