The NBA is prohibiting certain types of bets this season, including a player prop parlay used by gamblers in recent betting scandals, according to a league memo distributed to sportsbook partners Friday.
Bettors will not be able to include the under on the same player's statistics in parlays, in addition to other betting markets the league considers problematic, according to the memo, which was obtained by ESPN.
The league also directed its authorized gambling operators, including DraftKings and FanDuel, not to offer bets on the winner of the opening tip, players to miss specific shots and under bets on players who are expected to play fewer than 12 minutes in a specific game.
"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," NBA executive vice president Scott Kaufman-Ross told ESPN. "And where we landed right now, we think, is the right balance of those two objectives."
The NBA has the authority to restrict what partner sportsbooks offer through its agreements. The NBA estimates its partner sportsbooks account for upward of 99% of the U.S. betting market.
"The legalized sports betting industry is built on a foundation of dialogue and collaboration with our league partners and the states in which we operate," a FanDuel spokesperson said in a statement to ESPN. "We remain unwavering in our commitment to building a legal and regulated market that roots out abuses by those who seek to undermine fair competition and damage the integrity of the games we love."
Parlay bets on a single player's unders appeared in the federal cases involving NBA players Jontay Porter and Terry Rozier.
Porter admitted in court that he intentionally removed himself from games early to benefit bettors while he was on a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors during the 2023-24 season.
In the criminal complaint, federal prosecutors said one of the bettors charged in the scheme placed an $80,000 parlay on the under on Porter's assists, rebounds, points, 3-pointers, steals and blocks for a March 2024 game between the Raptors and Sacramento Kings that would pay approximately $1.1 million. Porter left the game after playing only three minutes.
Federal prosecutors allege bettors took a similar approach a year earlier with parlays involving the under on Rozier's stats in a March 2023 game between the Charlotte Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans. The veteran guard, who was with the Hornets at the time, left after playing approximately nine minutes. Rozier has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
Kaufman-Ross said the Porter and Rozier cases were factors in the decision to prohibit such parlays that were described as "low likelihood, high payout bets" in the memo. Sportsbooks also will be prohibited from offering alternate lines on unders with larger payouts.
"Seeing where we may have had issues in the past is one of the inputs to determining the types of things that we think could be problematic," Kaufman-Ross said.
After the scheme involving Porter was discovered, the NBA banned sportsbooks from taking under bets on players who are on two-way contracts.
Kaufman-Ross said that the league considered the entire betting landscape, including prediction markets, when deciding on the restrictions. The NBA has not announced any formal partnerships with prediction markets, and Kaufman-Ross acknowledges that without such agreements, enforcing its restrictions on prediction markets could be challenging.
A DraftKings spokesperson said some of the NBA's new restrictions are already reflected in the sportsbook's practices. DraftKings is the official odds provider for ESPN.
"DraftKings supports the NBA's efforts and is committed to continued collaboration with the league to maintain game integrity, including through appropriate limits on betting markets," the spokesperson said in a statement to ESPN. "DraftKings' Code of Responsible Engagement is fully aligned with the league's stance on the harassment of athletes, coaches or officials."
The league also distributed a memo to teams Friday, highlighting new integrity measures being put in place this season.
According to the memo, former NFL star and retired FBI agent Charles Tillman will lead in-person training on the league's sports betting rules. The league is also enhancing its in-house AI-based data monitoring platform designed to detect and investigate unusual betting activity on NBA games or events.
The memo stated that the NBA is also trying to better protect players, coaches and personnel from harassment by sports bettors by updating its fan code of conduct to highlight rules around harassment or threats by sports bettors.
The league has partnered with Social Protect, a third-party service provider that allows players to opt in to identify and delete harassing messages on social media, and it has also launched a new text-message-based hotline where harassment and threats can be securely reported.
ESPN's Shams Charania contributed to this report.