In the aftermath of multiple high-profile gambling scandals, the NBA will no longer allow certain types of bets that would appear to be the lowest-hanging fruit for potential conspirators.
Citing a memo distributed to the league's sportsbook partners on Friday, ESPN is reporting that "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."
The NBA and prominent sportsbooks have agreed to ban multiple types of bets, per me and @DavidPurdum, such as:
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 16, 2026
- Parlay bets involving the under on the same player's statistics
- "First of" market; examples: winner of opening tip, an individual's specific shot, rebound, assist,…
From 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.
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.
These bets on an individual player's over/under lines are particularly ripe for fixing because the player can control the outcome. These were the bets exploited by Jontay Porter, who received a lifetime ban in 2024 for disclosing inside information to bettors and wagering on games. Porter admitted in court that he took himself out of games early to make sure his under bets hit.
If you're not familiar with how these lines work, let's say a player's rebounding line for a game is set at 3.5. If you bet the under, you are betting that the player will finish with three or fewer rebounds. Obviously, a player can largely control that by simply not pursuing rebounds, and he can eliminate the possibility of even accidentally running into a loose rebound or two by simply removing himself from the game for a fake injury once he has logged the time to make the game and bets on his lines official.
He relays this information to bettors beforehand, and they put a bunch of money on him to go under the projected total. ESPN notes that in the Porter criminal complaint, federal prosecutors pointed to one bettor placing an $80,000 parlay bet on Porter going under his line for assists, rebounds, points, 3-pointers, steals and blocks for a March 2024 game between the Raptors and Kings that stood to pay out more than a million dollars. Porter left that game after playing just three minutes.
The same type of scandal has been alleged involving Terry Rozier, who removed himself after playing just nine minutes in a 2023 game that was called into question for the same conspiratorial reasons, and Malik Beasley.
The NBA knows how bad a look this is for a league now so deeply connected with gaming partners, and these measures are a clear indication that it is trying, to whatever extent possible, to put the genie back in the bottle regarding the bets most ripe for manipulation.