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The news that Colts cornerback Isaiah Rodgers placed a winning wager
on a teammate’s over-under rushing total speaks to a problem potentially far more significant and widespread than players betting on NFL games and events.
Inside information. Known in the context of corporate America as material, non-public information. In the NFL, there is plenty of it.
The truth about injuries becomes the most obvious. But there are various other forms of it. For teams that script the first 15 offensive plays, knowledge of those plays becomes significant power when it comes to making bets. More broadly, knowledge of the game plan for a given opponent — offensive and defensive — can shed plenty of light on where to put money.
Lots of people have access to that information. Players, coaches, anyone with access to practice, meetings, game planning can be co-opted.
It goes broader than that. Various staff members either already know or can find out the information. Administrative assistants prepare documents and other materials. Other employees maintain and have accessing to all digital information. The cleaning crews can see information on a whiteboard or on materials left behind in a meeting room or discarded.
It’s one thing for someone like Rodgers to use the information on his own. It’s quite another for someone to give that information to others, whether as a favor or in exchange for something, like cash.
And it’s one thing for the league to suspend players whose phones have supplied the evidence that the sports books have handed to the NFL. It’s quite another for the league to properly protect inside information, and to catch those who are misappropriating it, whether it’s players, coaches, or anyone else who has (or who can secure) access to that information.