The NFL’s gambling policy has recently faced more scrutiny after the year-long suspension of former Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley. Ridley faced a one year suspension after he was caught betting on NFL games during his time away from the team to focus on his mental health during the 2021 season. Ridley said on his personal Twitter “I bet 1500 total I don’t have a gambling problem.” Falcons fans were understandably outraged at this as Ridley was the team’s top offensive weapon with one fan, @680thefan more concerned about Ridley’s choice to bet on the Falcons saying “Falcons to win? Really?”
So what’s the issue with Ridley’s suspension if he clearly violated the rules? The problem is the intensity of the suspensions compared to other violations of the NFL’s code of conduct. The NFL’s minimum suspension for gambling on any NFL games is one year and betting on anything at all while on team facilities is a minimum six game suspension. This includes any type of friendly wager such as betting your teammate you can beat him in a race or even betting on Russian thumb wrestling. These suspensions last longer than an average domestic violence or sexual assault suspension.
In 2020 former Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill was caught in an 11 minute recording confessing to domestic violence and child abuse to his fiancée and three year old son. The NFL heard this recording and decided to not suspend Hill for any games in the 2020 Season. In 2021-2022 former Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson was accused of 26 accounts of sexual assault and harrasment. Most of the accusers were massage therapists who would frequently go to Watson’s house throughout the week. However a grand jury chose to not indict Watson on these charges. Watson was suspended for only eleven games and had to pay a five million dollar fine. Watson would then go on to get the highest guaranteed contract in NFL history that same offseason from the Browns.
This is not an uncommon occurrence either. NFL players are constantly given significantly less or in some cases no punishments for committing horrible crimes. In 2014, Cowboys’ edge Greg Hardy was suspended 10 games for domestic abuse and his suspension was even reduced to only four games after an appeal. In 2016 Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot was suspended for six games even after the NFL’s investigation proved he was physically violent towards his girlfriend. To go even further in 2008 Albert Haynesworth stomped on a player’s bare head on the field and was only suspended for five games. Haynesworth suspension is lower than Lions Wide Receiver Jameson Williams who just got caught casually betting while at a team venue not even on league games. Williams was suspended six games, the same amount of games that the NFL constantly uses as the baseline suspension for domestic abuse related situations. In 2023 alone, three players were suspended for the entire 2023 NFL season for gambling on league games, an amount of games higher than Greg Hardy and Ezekiel Elliott’s domestic abuse and Deshaun Watsons sexual assault suspensions.
These suspension amounts are simply unfair compared to the other punishments handed out against actual criminals. The NFL is extremely hypocritical as it is so deep into the gambling business. In fact the NFL’s gained nearly 1 Billion dollars from sponsorships from DraftKings, FanDuel, and Caesars. You can’t watch a game at home or in the stadium without seeing ads for gambling platforms anymore so imagine actually going into these stadiums plastered with advertisements every single day for three quarters of a year. In a day and age where you can bet on literally anything, the NFL has to revise its unfair and irregular suspensions to maintain consistency throughout its personal conduct policies.
Update: The day after I finished my article the NFL updated their policy on gambling related suspensions raising the minimum for betting on their own team from one year to a two year-lifetime suspension. For non-NFL related gambling it now has a violation system where the first violation of gambling on non-NFL sports while on team facilities or team related travel will result in a 2 game suspension for the first violation, six games for a second offense and at least one year for the third. Personally, I still do not see an issue with gambling on non-NFL related events at team facilities as the league allows it for players as long as they aren’t on team properties.
