The biggest game of the year for the Canadian Football League is just days away, and Commissioner Randy Ambrosie says the organization is standing on guard for any sports betting-related integrity issues like those experienced recently by their American cousins.
What happens if, or perhaps more likely when, those issues arise is a bit murky.
Nevertheless, the CFL likely wants to know ASAP if a player is wagering on the league or if any other potential threat to the integrity of the three-down sport exists.
Ambrosie said Tuesday that the CFL relies on partners such as data and technology company Genius Sports Ltd. to help the league spot any sports betting-related trouble and enforce its match manipulation policy. Those safeguards are being leaned on again ahead of the 110th Grey Cup in Hamilton on Sunday.
“It all starts with basically an algorithm-based structure that evaluates bets and gambling based on patterns,” Ambrosie told the media during his state of the league address. “So, they're able to scientifically identify areas of concern, areas where there looks to be anomalies, and those anomalies then are elevated and there's a human intervention to kind of look at the data to see whether there's something there. So we're really working with world-class experts in this space to really help to identify if and when there could potentially [be] a problem, and if there is, you investigate it more fully.”
Ambrosie added the CFL also has a hotline that team personnel can call to report any potential wrongdoing while remaining anonymous.
“We feel like the system's working well, our experts are telling us that the system is working well,” the commissioner said. “But you have to be forever vigilant on this front because that's a problem that we simply don't want to have.”
Riding the wave of legal wagering
The comments come as the CFL has embraced sports gambling to drive interest in the game and revenue overall, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that wiped out an entire season of play in 2020. The CFL supported Canada’s legalization of single-game sports betting in 2021 and has since formed business ties with several bookmakers.
Indeed, the league has named several authorized gaming operators, such as FanDuel, following Canada's decriminalization of solo-event wagering. Furthermore, the CFL partnered in 2021 with Genius Sports, which also invested in the league and received a minority equity stake in its commercial operations.
Those ties to the gambling industry remain firmly in place as professional and college sports continue to grapple with players who are taking advantage of increased access to online sportsbooks. Sometimes that access leads athletes to run afoul of their governing body’s rules for sports wagering, resulting in a 2023 that has been full of suspensions and other discipline related to gambling.
The CFL has tried to get in front of these issues with its relatively new match-manipulation policy and an e-learning course for players offered in tandem with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES). It can also fall back on its partnership with Genius Sports for further intel.
Even so, 10 NFL players were suspended this year for violating the league’s gambling policy, including by wagering on the league's games. The NFL also updated its gambling rules in September, providing a bit more leniency for certain wagering-related violations but cracking down even more on other mistakes, such as a player gambling on games involving their team.
Meanwhile, CFL players are paid, on average, substantially less than their NFL counterparts. The minimum salary for CFL players is reportedly $70,000 this year, while in the NFL it is $750,000. That difference alone raised a question during a media availability held later Tuesday involving representatives from the Canadian Football League Players Association (CFLPA) about whether there is a higher risk of match manipulation in the league due to what players are paid.
“I would say there's a risk anywhere, right?” CFLPA Executive Director Brian Ramsay said. “It doesn't matter what sport you're in. But… anytime there's a significant change or a new change to a process, or you're implementing something new, the focus has got to be on the education. You have to understand what the program is, you have to understand what the restrictions are, in order to be put in the best position to be successful in something like that.”
The importance of a good education
CFL players are banned from betting on the league’s games but can wager on other sports. Ramsay, though, said the players’ union has not received specific guidelines about what sort of punishments there may be for violating the CFL’s match-manipulation policy.
Still, there are guidelines for discipline in the league’s collective-bargaining agreement with the players, and the CFLPA expects any gambling-related discipline would fall somewhere in that prescribed range.
The union is interested in discussing the league’s gambling and sports betting-related policies with management more in-depth this offseason, Ramsay suggested. In the meantime, the CFLPA is emphasizing the importance of education.
“It's one thing to punish guys, but if they don’t know the do's and don'ts, we want to educate [them],” CFLPA President Solomon Elimimian said. “Like all our programs, we will be instrumental, we will be on the forefront to making sure that players get the right education, not just at training camp, but throughout the season.”
