NBA secures sportsbook agreement to remove selected betting markets

A league memo obtained in reporting by ESPN indicates that the NBA reached an understanding with its main sportsbook partners to drop certain markets the league views as carrying elevated integrity risk. Those changes are scheduled to begin with the current season. DraftKings and FanDuel are among the authorised operators the league has told to cease offering a set of other markets it deems troublesome.

One restriction concerns parlays: combining an under on a player's statistics with other legs in the same parlay will no longer be permitted. The list of markets being dropped covers opening-tip winner wagers, bets on whether players miss particular shots, and unders for players whose expected time on court is under 12 minutes.

NBA Executive Vice President Scott Kaufman-Ross told ESPN that the league was balancing the removal of problematic bet types against the risk of moving activity into the illegal market. "There’s a balance between ensuring that we are removing problematic bet types but also ensuring that we don’t just move activity into the illegal market," Kaufman-Ross said. "And where we landed right now, we think, is the right balance of those two objectives."

The decision was made against a backdrop of several betting scandals in American sport. Jontay Porter, who played for the Toronto Raptors, told a court he intentionally removed himself from games early in the 2023-24 campaign so that bettors would profit. In a separate matter, prosecutors connected a game played in March 2023 that involved Terry Rozier with unusual wagering on unders; Rozier has pleaded not guilty and denies any wrongdoing.

ESPN reports that, in the NBA's assessment, operators with official league partnerships represent over 99% of the American betting market. A FanDuel spokesperson described the legalised sports betting sector as one founded on talking and working with league partners and with the states where operators are active. The spokesperson added that FanDuel stays firmly committed to a legal, regulated market that eliminates abuse by people trying to undermine fair competition and harm the integrity of the games.