Sports betting is highly regulated at the state level, and individual states set their own rules about how it can be offered, whether in person or online. The major US sports leagues have been lobbying to influence sports betting regulations, pushing for official league data mandates that could shape state laws and the prices operators pay to access it.
Professional sports leagues are working hard to integrate their games into the betting market, pursuing lucrative partnerships with sportsbooks and leveraging in-game data to enhance the wagering experience for fans. They also want to be able to track wagers, where they’re made and how much money is placed on each game. The NFL is particularly savvy in this area, beefing up technology and dedicating security personnel to its new space and partnering with sportsbooks and integrity firms that monitor the betting markets. This allows the NFL to have more visibility into bets on its games and to spot suspicious activity more quickly.
NBA players and employees are allowed to place bets on non-NBA sports assuming it’s legal where they live, but betting on any NBA-related product, including the G-League, WNBA, Basketball Africa League or NBA2K League, is banned. Bets placed with unauthorized sportsbooks are illegal, and any player found to have violated the NBA’s betting rules faces a fine or possible suspension.
Baseball’s rules against gambling are well-documented. Those who break them face sanctions that range from a one-year ban to permanent ineligibility, and they’re barred from the Hall of Fame. The 1919 World Series was infamously fixed by gambler Joseph Sullivan, who paid eight members of the Chicago White Sox – Oscar Felsch, Arnold Gandil, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Charles Risberg, George Weaver and Claude Williams – 10,000 dollars each to throw the game.