1 week Ago By Santiagoc
Ahead of the start of the 2024-25 season next week, the NBA and its sportsbook partners have agreed to stop offering under player proposition wagers on the association’s lowest-paid players. This decision follows the Jontay Porter scandal, in which the former Toronto Raptors forward was banned for life earlier this year after an investigation revealed he had altered his performance in games and accepted cash from bettors who wagered on him. The average NBA player salary this year is $11.
9 million, with the minimum ranging from $1.1 million for rookies to $3.3 million for players with ten or more years of experience.
While “low salary” is subjective, the league and its gaming partners are defining it as players on two-way or 10-day contracts. Two-way contracts apply to players who oscillate between the NBA and their respective teams’ G-League affiliates — a status that applied to Porter when his betting scandal erupted. Importantly, regulated domestic sportsbooks do not offer bets on the G-League.
Since the 2018 Supreme Court ruling on the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), the NBA has embraced regulated sports wagering and partnerships with gaming companies. However, following the Porter case, the league has become more vigilant about the potential for low-paid players to be manipulated by bad actors. “We are pleased that these actions have been taken to help protect the integrity of our games,” a league representative told The Athletic.
Under the league’s current wagering policy, players, league, and team employees are barred from betting on anything related to the association, including NBA, G-League, and WNBA games. Although players aren’t required to sign anything to that effect, their collective bargaining agreement includes sections on what forms of betting are permitted and prohibited by the league. Punishments for offenders can range from fines and suspensions to contract termination and lifetime bans, as seen in Porter’s case.
In the NBA, popular player prop bets include over/under wagers on assists, points, and rebounds. Bettors can also wager on combinations of a player’s assists, points, and rebounds in a single game. Despite the ban on unders for low-paid players, this change is unlikely to significantly impact gaming companies.
Many retail bettors prefer betting overs and tend to focus on well-known players rather than obscure names. NBA sportsbook partners include BetMGM, DraftKings, and FanDuel..
