NBA orders sportsbooks to ban same-player under parlays, first-of bets and unders on bench players

The NBA told its sportsbook partners today, Friday, Oct. 16, that they can no longer offer several types of wagers this season. The memo went to operators including DraftKings and FanDuel.

The timing is deliberate. The memos landed almost exactly one year after federal arrests rocked the league.

What is banned

The list targets the bet types that appeared in the recent federal cases:

• Parlays that stack multiple "under" wagers on the same player.
• Under bets on players expected to play fewer than 12 minutes a game.
• "First-of" markets, including who wins the opening tip and which player scores the first basket, 3-pointer, rebound, assist, steal or block.
• Wagers on whether a player will miss a first shot attempt, next shot attempt, or any attempt within a set stretch of game time.

Those join earlier restrictions on bets involving 10-day and two-way contract players, turnovers, fouls and missed free throws. The new rules will apply to WNBA games starting in 2027.

The NBA says it has the authority to restrict markets under its existing agreements with sportsbooks. The league estimates its partners account for upward of 99% of the U.S. betting market.

Why those bets

The same-player under parlay is the mechanism at the center of two federal cases. Jontay Porter, then on a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors, pleaded guilty in 2024 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He admitted he removed himself from games early to benefit bettors holding his unders. Silver banned him from the league that year.

Court documents show one bettor in that plot built an $80,000 parlay on Porter's unders in assists, rebounds, points, 3-pointers, steals and blocks against the Kings. It paid $1.1 million. Porter played three minutes.

Federal prosecutors allege a similar scheme involving Terry Rozier in a March 2023 game, when he played for the Charlotte Hornets. He left after nine minutes. Rozier has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing. Those charges are allegations, not findings.

Prosecutors also allege that the broader operations behind the October 2025 arrests leaked inside information about NBA players and ran rigged poker games backed by Mafia families. Those arrests included Chauncey Billups, now the former Portland coach, and former guard Damon Jones, along with Rozier, who is now a former Miami guard. The allegations against all three are unproven.

The league's reasoning

NBA executive vice president Scott Kaufman-Ross told ESPN the league is weighing two goals against each other.

"There's a balance between ensuring that we are removing problematic bet types but also ensuring that we don't just move activity into the illegal market," he said. "And where we landed right now, we think, is the right balance of those two objectives."

The tension is real. Banning a market at a regulated book does not erase demand for it. The 99% figure is the league's own estimate.

Training, monitoring and harassment

The NBA's memo to teams goes beyond the betting menu. All players, coaches and training staffs must attend live, in-person training on the league's sports betting rules starting this season. A memo to all 30 teams names Charles Tillman, the former NFL player and retired FBI agent, to lead that training.

The league also said it has built a new AI-based data monitoring platform to detect and investigate unusual betting activity. It analyzes injury reports, social media and wagering patterns. Similar technology has been used by the NBA and sportsbooks for some time, so this is an upgrade rather than a new concept.

On player safety, the league said it is upgrading protection from harassment and threats by bettors, after repeated complaints from players and coaches. Players can opt in to programs that identify and delete threats on social media. The league is also revising its fan code of conduct to spell out that betting-related harassment is prohibited.

What comes next

The restrictions take effect this season, and the WNBA will adopt them in 2027. Rozier's case remains unresolved, so the central question of whether a bettor can still profit from a player's early exit will play out in federal court, not in a sportsbook memo. The league's list reflects the markets already named in court filings. It does not claim to close every avenue for manipulation.