by David Purdum, ESPN
Atlanta Falcons receiver Calvin Ridley is the biggest name to be suspended for gambling since legal sports betting began spreading in the United States four years ago.
It seems unlikely that he’ll be the last.
Preventing players, coaches, officials and anyone from betting on games in which they participate is a massive challenge for stakeholders in the new sports betting landscape. No one — not the leagues, bettors or bookmakers — want participants betting on an event on which they may have inside information or could impact directly.
The NFL said it found no evidence that any games were compromised or that Ridley used inside information to make his wagers that were placed online in November 2021. At that time, Ridley was away from the Falcons on the non-football injury list and had announced that he was stepping away from football to work on his mental health.
Ridley is the second NFL player to be suspended for betting on league games since a 2018 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court opened a path for states to authorize sports betting. Since the ruling, 30 states and the District of Columbia have launched legal betting markets. The legal market is what identified betting by Ridley and then-Arizona Cardinals defensive back Josh Shaw, who was suspended in 2019 after an NFL investigation found he had wagered on league games. Shaw was reinstated in 2021, but has not been picked up by a team.
Ridley will forfeit his $11.1 million salary next season while suspended.
What did Ridley do?
Ridley violated the league’s gambling policy by placing three multi-leg parlay bets that included at least one NFL game in November 2021.
The bets were made online with the Hard Rock sportsbook.
He placed a three-team, five-team and eight-team parlay, risking $500 on each. His parlays included the Falcons “to win,” according to sources. The Falcons were small road favorites over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Nov. 28. Atlanta covered the spread in a 21-14 win. It has not been revealed to ESPN if Ridley bet on the Falcons on the money line (to win straight up) or with the point spread.
Ridley bet on multiple sports, including the NBA, for much larger stakes than his $500 parlays, upwards of $10,000, according to sources. The NFL gambling policy allows players to bet on other sports besides football with legal operators.
On Friday, gaming industry site SportsHandle.com, citing undisclosed betting records, reported that Ridley bet $3,900 across six bets that included the Falcons: Five parlays and a $1,000 in-game wager on the Atlanta’s team total (the amount points scored in the game by the Falcons).
Additionally, according to the report, Ridley also bet two $100 bets on NFL games not involving the Falcons.
How did Ridley get caught?
According to multiple sources familiar with the event, Ridley placed the bets on his cellphone but used a betting account not registered in his name with Hard Rock’s Florida sportsbook. Ridley was outside of Florida when he placed the bets, triggering a geolocation violation and leading the sportsbook to investigate further, according to the sources.
Online sportsbooks use geolocation services to track where bets are being placed. The geolocation service collects data, such as IP addresses, from the device being used to place the wager.
After receiving the geolocation notice, the Hard Rock sportsbook notified Genius Sports, an NFL partner that monitors the betting market for the league, prompting the investigation that ultimately led to Ridley’s suspension. Genius Sports is a London-based company that distributes data from leagues, including the NFL, to sportsbooks around the world, while also looking for unusual betting patterns.
“GeoComply would like to clarify that any out of state attempts on the wagering system were effectively blocked and denied,” Lindsay Slader, GeoComply’s Managing Director of Gaming, told ESPN. “Geolocation systems functioned as intended to block any attempted wagers from out of state, and its analytics capabilities were used to successfully investigate this scenario further.”
Rest is here…
