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The NFL has adjusted its gambling policy to add increased punishments for players who bet on, or attempt to fix, NFL games and decrease punishments for players found betting on other sports.
Due to this new policy, Lions’ Jameson Williams, Titans’ Nicholas Petit-Frere will be reinstated into the league as of today.
The adjusted gambling policy means players who bet on the NFL will receive an indefinite suspension for a minimum of one year, with that increasing to two years if it’s on the player’s own team. Meanwhile, actual or attempted match-fixing will result in a permanent ban from the NFL.
Furthermore, if players provide inside information or tip-offs to others, that will warrant an indefinite suspension (a minimum of one year) as will third-party or proxy betting.
However, for NFL athletes betting on sports outside of their own while in the workplace, penalties have been reduced.
The new policy means those found doing the former will be granted a two-game suspension without pay (for first-time offenders) or six-game bans without pay (for second-time offenders) and for third-time offenders, they will be looking at suspension without pay for at least one year.
Williams and Petit-Frere were suspended for six games for betting on non-NFL sports at a team facility; however, under the amended policy they would have only been banned for two games.
To monitor the new policy, the NFL Commissioner will: “Consider specific patterns of behavior and history of wagers, as well as the player in question’s access to confidential information or an ability to affect a game in any way, among other factors,” per a memo obtained by NFL Network’s Judy Battista.
If players are compliant, show acceptance of responsibility, cooperate with investigations and self-report violations, it can help them when their penalties are being determined.
