Tom Brady Tabbed as NFL's Spokesperson on Gambling Policies
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The NFL has had policies in effect that limit players' ability to gamble on sporting events. There aren't many rules, but two of them stand out.
1. NFL players cannot gamble on anything related to the league and its' games.
2. Players cannot gamble on any sports while at their team's facilities or while traveling with the team.
The rules seem pretty easy to follow, right? Wrong. Since sports gambling has begun to become legal in many U.S. states, the crackdown on those misusing gambling along with those who break a company's policy regarding the act of gambling has become the forefront of a much larger discussion.
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The issue of sports gambling by NFL players really came to the forefront prior to last season as former Atlanta Falcons' wide receiver, Calvin Ridley, was suspended the entire season after betting on NFL games in 2021.
As much as we had hoped that players had learned their lesson thanks to Ridley's mistake - this wasn't the case. Earlier this year, five other NFL players have come under scrutiny and have been suspended for varying amounts of time due to gambling. They will serve their suspension during the 2023 regular season.
We would like to think that all the seminars and training that players go through prior to each season would give the players enough knowledge not to go through with gambling on sports, but there is a fine line when it comes to things that are legal and not-legal per the NFL's gambling policies.
Now, with sports gambling and the NFL at odds with one another, the league is taking action by bringing in the greatest player to ever play the game to become the spokesperson for the NFL's gambling policies, Tom Brady.
According to a league source, Brady taped an introductory video to the league's gambling policies video that will be shown to every team at their facilities at both minicamp and training camp.
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In his video message, Brady talks about his love for football and how playing in the NFL was a privilege of a lifetime. He goes on to exclaim that betting on NFL games hurts the integrity of the game as well as the reputation of everyone on your team. Brady continues by stating that players have worked too hard to just throw it all away due to one poor decision and concludes his message by imploring players to follow the league's mandates on sports gambling and to do the right thing.
The message has yet to be released, but with the introduction coming from many players' idol in Brady, it should garner the players' attention enough to sway their decision to break the leagues' policies moving forward.
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