After the Supreme Court ruled that individual states can regulate sports betting, a number of states have jumped into the space with differing approaches. One big difference is official betting, which limits the types of bets that players and teams can place. The NBA has the tightest restrictions on official betting, barring any wagers on NBA games or team properties. That includes NBA2K League, summer league, WNBA and Basketball Africa League games, although players who play in those events can still bet on other sports.
The NBA also bans gambling on the NBA or any of its teams, including road games. That rule also extends to anyone who works for the league, whether they’re in uniform or not. Those rules are in place to prevent any insider information from being used for gambling purposes. The NBA has also implemented in-game gambling monitoring and integrity technology to catch offenders.
Other sports have similar rules on official betting, including baseball’s. A player who bets against their own team is banned for life, and anyone in a management role in the MLB can’t gamble on a game. It’s a way to protect the integrity of the game, which has been in danger since Joseph Sullivan paid eight members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox to fix the World Series for money.
Legal sports betting launched in Massachusetts on Jan. 31 2023, and online sportsbooks rolled out soon after that. The state law permits 15 sportsbook licenses, eight of which are tied to a land-based partner and seven available by competitive bid. Currently, eight online sportsbooks are live in the state, including DraftKings, FanDuel, WynnBET and Caesars.
