The NBA has informed all 30 teams that the league office has initiated a process of reviewing policies regarding injury reporting, training and education of all personnel. They will also enhance internal and external programs to identify the betting activity of concern.
The memo comes a few days after Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones were arrested as part of a federal investigation into illegal gambling activity.
“Given the spread of legal betting to the majority of U.S. states, the recurrence of integrity issues across sports, and the emergence of novel betting formats and markets, this is an opportune time to carefully reassess how sports betting should be regulated and how sports leagues can best protect themselves, their players, and their fans,” writes the NBA in the memo. “While the unusual betting on Terry Rozier’s “unders” in the March 2023 game was detected in real time because the bets were placed legally, we believe there is more that can be done from a legal/regulatory perspective to protect the integrity of the NBA and our affiliated leagues. In particular, proposition bets on individual player performance involve heightened integrity concerns and require additional scrutiny.
“We have also begun a process of reviewing league policies regarding injury reporting, the training and education of all NBA personnel, and safety measures for NBA players. With sports betting now occupying such a significant part of the current sports landscape, every effort must be made to ensure that players, coaches, and other NBA personnel are fully aware of the dire risks that gambling can impose upon their careers and livelihoods; that our injury disclosure rules are appropriate; and that players are protected from harassment from bettors.
“We also are exploring ways to enhance our existing internal and external integrity monitoring programs to better utilize AI and other tools to synthesize all available data from betting operators, social media, and other sources to identify betting activity of concern.”