The NFL and NFLPA (the players’ association) agreed to change the rules about gambling for players. This means that some players who were suspended might get to come back and play sooner.
Tom Pelissero, who knows a lot about the NFL, told us that two football players, Jameson Williams and Nicolas Petit-Frère, can start playing for their teams again from Monday. They were supposed to wait for two more weeks, but now they can play earlier because of the new rule.
They changed the rules to make it stricter for players who bet on NFL games. They might get in a lot more trouble and even get banned from playing forever. But if they bet on different sports while they are working or at work, the punishment might not be as severe.
“The NFL and NFL Players Association share a well-established and steady commitment to make sure they protect the honesty of the game,” the league and players association made it clear in a joint statement Friday. “The NFL regularly reviews its gambling policy in consultation with the NFLPA and its clubs to adapt to changing circumstances and ensure that it fully meets this obligation.”
Williams and Petit-Frère were Previously Suspended
If you bet on an NFL game, you will be suspended for at least one year, and if you bet on a team contest, you will be suspended indefinitely for two years.
Actual match-fixing, or attempted match-fixing, will result in a permanent ban from the NFL. However, providing inside information or tips will result in an indefinite ban (at least one year), as will third-party or proxy betting.
The big change that affects people who play football is that if they bet on different sports while they are working, they will get in trouble. The first time it happens, they will not play for two games and will not get paid for those games.
The second time, they will not play for six games and will not get paid. And if it happens a third time, they won’t play and will not get paid for a whole year!
Williams and Petit-Frère were previously suspended for six games for betting on non-NFL sports at team facilities. Under the revised policy, he would have been suspended for two games.
The big boss of the NFL, called the Commissioner, will look at how a player behaves and if they’ve bet on games before. They will also check if the player knows secret stuff or could change how a game goes. They will think about many things before deciding what to do. This information was shared by Judy Battista from NFL Network.
Self-reporting a violation, accepting responsibility, and cooperating with league investigators may act as mitigating factors in determining penalties.
The NFL has suspended several players since implementing the gambling policy, including several rounds of suspension before the start of the 2023 season, and the suspended players directly affected by this policy change are Williams and Petit-Frere only.
