By The events of the last week have made it quite evident that the NFL’s gambling policy is a significant concern if it was not previously.
A policy that has led to six player bans, the suspension of a coach, and at least two ongoing investigations in less than two years was confirmed by Panthers coach Frank Reich on Friday.
Reich said, via Mike Kaye of the Charlotte Observer, that he fully supports and agrees with every action of the league undertaken in this situation. He emphasized how serious the policy is and considers it a big deal. He further said that this is a new issue and he fully supports the league’s actions to preserve the integrity of the players, coaches and the sport.
The relationship between gambling and the fairness of the game is still unclear. Other than NFL football, players are permitted to wager, as long as they do not do so at team facilities or while on team business trips.
That makes no sense in terms of maintaining the fairness of the game. A player might figuratively put a wager while standing on the sidewalk in front of the team’s facilities, say on baseball or basketball. If the player enters the structure and does the identical action, the game’s fairness has been somehow jeopardized.
Either one or the other should apply. Either it should be legal to wager on all sports other than NFL football, or it should be illegal. If maintaining the integrity of the game is the aim, location shouldn’t matter.
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