Decades before sports betting became legalized on a widespread basis, the NFL was sufficiently concerned about sports betting to take action.
Via the excellent @QuirkyResearch account on Twitter, the NFL first adopted a rule requiring the release of information regarding player injuries on this day in 1947.
Commissioner Bert Bell announced the new rule while explaining that he knows the names of the top gamblers in the country.
“It’s my business to know where those fellows are located — and who they are,” Bell said in the posted article. “My office gets daily reports on fluctuations of betting prices. If they fluctuate to a marked extent we investigate.”
He called injury reports “one more weapon we are using to thwart gamblers,” and that injury reports will ensure the “public won’t be in the dark.”
“Because of their spies the big gambling houses may know [Sammy] Baugh is hurt and probably won’t be at his best if he plays at all,” Bell said. “But the public won’t know. The public may fall for prices that seem good but aren’t because of Baugh’s injury.”
While the dynamics have changed dramatically — with the NFL basically now aligned closely with the big gambling houses (and owners allowed to own up to five percent of a company that operates a sports book) — the concern remains. Inside information exists. Injury reports aren’t nearly thorough enough to prevent someone from misusing knowledge that isn’t widely known. It creates an opportunity for players, coaches, and anyone else with access to the truth to leverage it for their own gain, or to get out of debt with gamblers.
The NFL doesn’t seem to be nearly as concerned about that as it should be. Bell was, more than three quarters of a century ago.
“The only people I’m interested in watching in connection with gamblers are the out-and-out cheaters,” Bell said. “I want to nail those rumormongers who are forever spreading the word that Baugh, [Bob] Waterfield, [Paul] Governali, [Sid] Luckman and our other great stars are in the bag. They’re my meat.”
While there has been no specific scandal in the NFL regarding the misuse of inside information yet, the potential is there. Look at what happened in the NBA with Jontay Porter. That was inside information with a sinister twist, where he faked an injury and an illness in at least two games to allow the unders on his prop bets to hit.
Inside information can be used in plenty of other ways. Hopefully, the current Commissioner (and his successor) will be as proactive as Bell was.
