The NBA has requested that their partner sportsbooks do not offer under bets on players that are on two-way or 10-day contracts, ESPN reported on Friday.
ESPN reported that sportsbooks are expected to abide when markets open for the new NBA season that begins next week.
Already, some sportsbooks have begun to eschew under markets for player props in the WNBA — namely DraftKings, which has taken nearly every under out of the equation, except for those on major stars, over the last month.
The provisions by the NBA come in the wake of the Jontay Porter scandal, in which the player — who was on a two-way contract — deliberately took himself out of games so that he underperformed his prop bets. This was after he allegedly racked up a gambling debt with a ring of bookmakers. Those bookmakers then cooked up a scheme for Porter to underperform in order to get him out of debt.
For most bettors, sportsbooks enact extremely small limits on player props anyway, especially relative to sides. For the most part, this isn't for safety or integrity purposes — it's for self preservation. Player props are easier to beat and have larger edges compared to the heavily liquid markets on moneylines, totals and spreads. There's more surface area for sportsbooks to cover — and player prop markets tend to be far less efficient as a result.
One of the issues with the Porter case is that DraftKings permitted a sizable, $80,000 same game parlay to win $1.1 million to be placed in the first place — all on Porter props. With any ordinary person, that bet wouldn't have been allowed. But it's likely that the bet was placed with a person who had his or her limits increased — likely due to prior losses or other betting patterns.
Sportsbooks increase the amount losing bettors, among other factors, can wager. And they limit the amount winning bettors can put down.
It was this wager, however, that eventually uncovered the Porter scandal writ large.
A bill proposed by two Democratic congressmen earlier this year would end prop bets on collegiate sports. Already, several states do not permit bets on in-state colleges or collegiate player props at all for fear of match fixing.
The proposed bill would also enact deposit limits on all customers and force them to undergo affordability checks in order to make large wagers.
It is unlikely to be passed in Congress.
