NBA restricts player prop bets with sportsbook partners ahead of new season

ESPN reported that the league and its official sportsbook partners reached an agreement to ban some player prop wagers and to limit parlay combinations tied to individual players. Books will no longer take under wagers on any player projected to see fewer than 12 minutes of action in a game. Bettors are also blocked from putting several under selections on one player's statistics into a single parlay. The new rules take hold before the coming season begins.

Shams Charania listed additional banned markets in a post cited by the report, among them the "First of" category, which covers who wins the opening tip and a single player's first shot, rebound or assist. The report linked the changes to a string of betting integrity scandals tied to NBA players, along with worries that reserve-player markets and very narrow statistical bets are especially easy to manipulate.

According to the report, the league's ability to set terms ends with its licensed sportsbook partners, since similar contracts could still be offered on prediction market platforms that fall under federal regulation. Talks between the NBA and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have addressed tighter supervision of basketball event contracts, but no formal deal with the regulator has been completed.

In a separate development, the report said Novig and Crypto.com each went to federal court to stop Missouri from applying its gambling statutes to the sports prediction market products they offer. Those suits came after Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway sent cease-and-desist notices in September telling prediction market operators to halt sports event contracts in the state or secure gambling licences.

The report said Novig brought its case in the Eastern District of Missouri, while Crypto.com went to the Western District. Each firm contends that the CFTC alone has authority over its federally regulated event contracts and that federal commodities law overrides Missouri's gambling rules. No ruling has come from the Eighth Circuit on the question.

Per the report, the CFTC's interim rule covering sports and casino event contracts takes effect on 19 October, when a companion rulemaking proposal is also published, and comments from the public are open through November. On 21 October, a case-management conference is set in the California tribal case against Kalshi and Robinhood, Wisconsin's appellate brief falls due that same day in another prediction-market fight, and Kentucky filings are expected on 23 October. The report added that Missouri regulators may act once cease-and-desist deadlines given to six prediction-market operators run out.