Lamar Jackson will start for the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night against the Miami Dolphins. Coach John Harbaugh said so, Jackson said so, and - here’s the relevant news - the Ravens’ injury report confirmed it Tuesday by listing Jackson as “Full Practice.”
Under normal circumstances, any Dolphins fan would give a why-us shrug and, more to the point, bettors would wager accordingly. But circumstances were not normal last week, when the Ravens’ injury report and the arrest of three NBA figures on gambling charges created a sky-is-falling theme across the sports world.
This was inevitable, right? A sports world that didn’t just invite gambling into games but handed it a drink and sat it in the owners’ suite had its first major scandal. Still, you can hold two opposing thoughts about all this.
This NBA gambling scandal wouldn’t crack anyone’s list of top sports-betting controversies since there was no game-fixing involved - unlike NBA referee Tim Donaghy in 2007, baseball manager Pete Rose, the 1951 point-shaving scandal at New York universities, or the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
Every league needs to be smarter in handling information, especially involving injuries, because that’s what gamblers want - and where players can get in trouble.
Every player knows what’s happening in sports. How can they not? A former Dolphins player once recalled getting a message from a bettor who won $30,000 on a prop bet involving the player’s game stats. Each year, the bettor sent thanks again.
No one invited sports gambling into the game more than NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. He spoke publicly about it for years, wrote columns about it and asked - when other commissioners stayed silent - why sports were still living in the 1950s when billions of dollars in new revenue were available.
It was a fair question, and a profitable one. Look around - you’re surrounded by gambling ads at games, on TV and on websites, and the oddsmaker’s voice is now part of every sports show.
But if leagues want to be hip-deep in gambling, they also have to be fully transparent about injury information.
That wouldn’t solve everything. Arrested Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier is accused of pulling himself out of a game while with Charlotte to win a prop bet on the “unders.” The alleged scheme was discovered only because it was a legal bet. What if it had been done through an illegal bookie?
The arrest of NBA coach Chauncey Billups for alleged involvement in mafia-fixed poker games isn’t primarily a basketball issue unless there’s evidence the mafia had leverage over him elsewhere. The FBI says it is investigating further.
Former Cavaliers assistant Damon Jones, arrested for leaking player status information, highlights the real issue leagues must correct. Teams have traditionally treated such information as a competitive advantage. That can’t work anymore.
Teams should disclose when they know a player will miss a game. The regular “maintenance” nights off should be announced a day earlier, even if team owners object. Knowing a star won’t play can affect ticket sales - that’s the cost in today’s gambling-driven environment.
The Ravens demonstrated last week how valuable injury information is. Jackson had missed two games and was listed as “limited” last Wednesday and Thursday before a matchup with Chicago. That suggested he wouldn’t play.
Then, on Friday, he was upgraded to “full participation,” implying he would start. Baltimore was a 7½-point favorite in Las Vegas when it appeared Jackson would play. On Saturday, the Ravens retroactively changed Friday’s listing back to “limited.”
By kickoff, Baltimore was a 2½-point favorite.
The NFL is investigating, with possible penalties including a hefty fine or even loss of a draft pick. The NBA has also issued a memo to teams stating it has “begun a process of reviewing league policies regarding injury reporting, the training and education of all NBA personnel, and the safety measures for NBA players.”
Here’s a new title likely coming to professional sports teams: director of gambling.
Every team will have one to oversee operations. It’s easy to make billions off gambling. But keeping everyone in the organization away from it - and avoiding errors like Baltimore’s - is a different challenge.
Jackson will start Thursday night. Bet on it.