Since Adam Silver addressed the greatest fears of David Stern by signing with betting houses as principal partners, the commissioner has insisted that the move aimed to increase transparency in a world that is often bleak. In recent times, after witnessing the consequences of shaking hands with these businesses, Silver had specifically mentioned the need to limit the parlays market.
In a preliminary draft revealed by Shams Charania and David Payne Purdum on ESPN, the NBA will ban betting lines that appear to be easily manipulable.
- Bets on the under for multiple statistics of a single player will not be allowed.
- There will be no “first-to” bets such as who wins the opening jump ball, who grabs the first rebound, or who records the first assist. In other words, you will not be able to bet that someone scores the first basket of the game, grabs the first rebound, or wins the opening jump.
- Betting on players who average fewer than 12 minutes per game will be prohibited.
These join an initial slate of prohibitions on players who are on two-way contracts or 10-day deals or actions related to losses, missed free throws, or fouls committed. The league and its partners are likely to study additional restrictions in the future.
The NBA continues to make decisions in concert with one of its biggest sponsors and revenue sources. As expected. The new Draft system that punishes the three teams with the league’s worst record arises largely from the damage that tanking can cause to the major betting houses, which cannot predict when a team will have less incentive to win a game.
