NBA bans player-stat and early-result betting markets for new season

The NBA has prohibited betting markets linked to individual player statistics and early match outcomes for the current season, according to a league memo reported by Estadão and ESPN. The restrictions were sent to betting houses authorised by the league through the memo.

The banned markets include combinations predicting an athlete falling below targets across different statistics, bets on who wins the opening tip-off, who scores the first basket, assist or rebound, and wagers on errors in specific shots and on the performance of players who play fewer than 12 minutes. The new restrictions add to existing prohibitions on markets involving turnovers, fouls and missed free throws, and to those already covering 10-day and two-way contracts.

The league said the decision follows a series of investigations into suspected match manipulation. Jontay Porter, a former Toronto Raptors player, was banned from the NBA in 2024 after an investigation concluded he gave confidential information to bettors and limited his participation in games to favour bets. Terry Rozier was arrested in October 2025, accused of involvement in a betting scheme using privileged information; Rozier pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Alongside the market restrictions, the league has required players, coaches and coaching staff to attend in-person training sessions on betting rules. The NBA has also developed an artificial intelligence tool to identify suspicious movements based on injury reports, social media posts and betting patterns. The league has further expanded protection measures for athletes and team staff against betting-related threats and harassment, with players able to join programmes that identify and remove abusive messages on social media, and the fan code of conduct is to be updated to reinforce the prohibition of such behaviour. The new betting market restrictions will apply to the WNBA from 2027.