CFL Players Take ‘Common Sense’ Approach to Sidestep Sports Betting Snafus

A single CFL game can attract more than $6 million in bets, and the league's championship final could draw significantly more attention from gamblers.

The Canadian Football League is counting on complex technology to ensure the integrity of games, but for coaches and players, following gambling and sports betting rules can just boil down to common sense.

“The players understand what's allowed and what's not allowed,” Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O'Shea said Wednesday. “You get told don't bet in these situations … I mean, they're pretty easy rules to follow.”

O’Shea was speaking during the media day for the 110th Grey Cup, which takes place Sunday in Hamilton, Ont. A single CFL game can reportedly attract more than $6 million in bets, and the league's championship final could draw significantly more attention from gamblers.

Sunday's matchup between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Montreal Alouettes will also take place in the wake of several suspensions handed down earlier this year by the National Football League in connection with gambling. 

The CFL is trying to ensure similar scandals don't occur north of the Canada-U.S. border, especially as it and other professional sports leagues form and maintain partnerships with sports-betting companies such as FanDuel. 

There is, however, a golden rule for CFL players and personnel: You can wager on other sports, but betting on the league’s games is forbidden. 

“At the end of the day, I think it’s common sense,” Blue Bombers left tackle Stanley Bryant told Covers. “You know what to do and what not to do, especially if you’re playing in the league.”

When in doubt, don't

Montreal Alouettes head coach Jason Maas said talking over the league's sports betting-related guidelines with players was not a focus of his — winning football games is — but, like his peers across the sideline, the issue is pretty black-and-white.

“If you want to play in our league and don't want to get reprimanded, don't bet on games,” Maas told Covers. “We're all adults, we read the policy, and you follow the policy when it comes to something like this.” 

Yet even if it’s cut-and-dried for some, it may not be for all. The increased prominence of gambling is also not lost on CFL players, as teams even wear patches on their jerseys for sportsbook operators. What's more, increased availability and awareness of online wagering and the lower salaries paid to CFL players compared to other professional leagues could create concern about the potential for a betting-related controversy, although it hasn’t happened. 

That said, the league and teams are spending time ensuring players know the rules around sports betting, gambling, and the league’s match-manipulation policy. O'Shea said Winnipeg had a mandatory education session at the beginning of the year and then a “quick follow-up” session during the year to repeat those lessons.

“We had a full day about that during training camp," Blue Bombers receiver Nic Demski told Covers. "So they do their due diligence of letting us know and educating us so that nobody falls into the trap, I guess you could say. I feel like it just makes sense not to do any sports betting on your own league, especially when you know so much inside stuff. So I stay away from it.”

The CFL is on the lookout for athletes who may not stay away from it. CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie spent time Tuesday detailing how the league’s partners monitor for suspicious wagering activity, including by using algorithms to pore over betting patterns.

“We feel like the system's working well, our experts are telling us that the system is working well,” the commissioner said. “But you have to be forever vigilant on this front because that's a problem that we simply don't want to have.”

'Stay away from the no-nos'

The CFL does have a match-manipulation policy to try to ensure the integrity of games remains intact. An e-learning course was also rolled out earlier this year in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) to help get CFL personnel up to speed on the new rules. 

Still, it is a bit unclear what the punishment would be for violating that policy. While it would likely fall within the range of the league’s collectively bargained discipline guidelines, CFLPA executive director Brian Ramsay said Tuesday they’ve not received specific guidance about potential punishment for violating the match-manipulation rules.

At any rate, CFL players may continue to rely on common sense to ensure they remain on the league’s good side.

“This supports my family, this salary,” Winnipeg’s Demski said. “I never want it to get taken away, so I'm going to do all my due diligence to make sure that I stay away from the no-nos.”