A city renowned for gambling is hosting the Super Bowl for the first time.
The winners of Sunday’s NFC and AFC championship games will meet at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Feb. 11 to compete for the NFL’s title.
While the big game has been held in states that have introduced legal sports betting since PASPA was overturned in 2018, members of each team and plenty of the league's non-participants will flood The Strip and downtown areas of gambling’s mecca. It’ll be impossible for NFL players, coaches, staff members, and executives to avoid casinos.
However, the league is very clear on its gambling policy.
“While in Las Vegas, players participating in the Super Bowl are prohibited from engaging in any form of gambling, including casino games and betting on any sport,” the NFL released to players in a September memo, according to Front Office Sports.
Players not playing in the Super Bowl are also expected to avoid wagering on any NFL game and aren’t allowed to enter sportsbooks until after the big game unless it’s necessary to go through a sportsbook that’s in their intended path in a casino.
Suspensions for violators
Betting on any NFL game by players employed by a team in the league is explicitly prohibited and comes with stiff penalties. The NFL policy included a minimum one-year suspension for wagering on an NFL game and a minimum two-year suspension for betting on that player’s team.
Game fixing, attempted or actual, comes with a lifetime ban, and providing inside information results in a minimum one-year suspension.
The NFL’s policy on non-league wagering inside a team facility or hotel changed in 2023 to a three-tiered status. The first violation results in a two-game suspension with the second bringing on six games lost and the third violation causing a one-year unpaid suspension.
Recent gambling incidents
With sports betting legal in 38 U.S. states, the NFL has and will likely continue having gambling-related incidents.
New England Patriots wideout Kayshon Boutte was arrested Thursday in Louisiana for participating in illegal underage gambling while at LSU.
Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Calvin Ridley, when he was with the Atlanta Falcons, was suspended for the entire 2022 season when he violated the policy of betting on NFL games.
Seven NFL players from four teams were suspended for the entire 2023 season for betting on league games.
The Detroit Lions, who are playing at the San Francisco 49ers in Sunday’s NFL Championship Game, had two of those players: Quintez Cephus and C.J. Moore. Two more Lions, Jameson Williams and Stanley Berryhill, both received extended suspensions for betting on non-NFL games in 2023 but had their punishments reduced following the league’s policy change in September.
Berryhill was released by Detroit last May while Williams will be on the field Sunday.
