NBA Bans Same-Player Under Parlays and Orders Betting Training for Every Player, Coach and Trainer

The NBA told its partner sportsbooks on Friday that they can no longer let bettors parlay unders on the same player’s statistics this season, ESPN’s David Purdum and Shams Charania report. A parlay is one ticket that pays only if every leg wins, and an under is a bet that a stat lands below a set line. The memo also bars several other markets, including bets on which player records the first stat of a game, the Associated Press reports.

That sportsbook memo went out alongside a second one, to teams. Every player, coach and training staff will be required to attend “live, in-person training on the league’s sports betting rules” starting this season, according to the AP, which obtained both. Charles Tillman, the former NFL star and retired FBI agent, will lead it, ESPN reports.

The case behind the parlay rule

Federal prosecutors allege bettors used parlays on the unders of Terry Rozier’s stats for a March 2023 game between the Charlotte Hornets and the New Orleans Pelicans. Rozier, then with the Hornets, left after about nine minutes. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

NBA executive vice president Scott Kaufman-Ross told ESPN that “seeing where we may have had issues in the past is one of the inputs.” He framed the list as a trade-off: “There’s a balance between ensuring that we are removing problematic bet types but also ensuring that we don’t just move activity into the illegal market. And where we landed right now, we think, is the right balance of those two objectives.”

A DraftKings spokesperson told ESPN some of the restrictions already match its practices. CNBC reports the letter went to FanDuel, DraftKings, Fanatics and others.

The other memo watches the players

The team memo, from Dan Spillane, the NBA’s executive vice president of league governance and policy, describes an internal AI monitoring platform. CNBC reports it analyzes basketball data, injury reports, social media information about player availability and individual betting data, to “promptly identify and investigate potentially suspicious betting activity.”

Three of the team memo’s other measures deal with harassment from bettors, per ESPN: an updated fan code of conduct covering threats from sports bettors, a partnership with Social Protect that lets players opt in to have harassing social media messages found and deleted, and a text-message hotline for reporting threats.

The new rules take effect with the season, which opens next week.

Sources

• ESPN: NBA tells sportsbooks to stop certain bets, restrict parlays
• AP: Some bets, certain parlays no longer can be offered, NBA tells sportsbooks
• CNBC: NBA tightens betting rules, develops AI to flag suspicious wagers
• Sports Business Journal: NBA season brings tightened rules on prop bets