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The NBA is upping the ante when it comes to monitoring sports betting ahead of the 2026-2027 season.
The league is tightening restrictions on bets offered by its authorized gambling partners and deploying artificial intelligence to help identify suspicious wagering, according to two documents obtained by CNBC.
The measures come as Commissioner Adam Silver pushes for greater access to wagering data and more control over the types of markets offered on the league's games. He said his concerns extend to prediction markets.
"For us, whether it's called a prediction market, whether it's sports betting, it's the same issues for our league, and I think for all the leagues," Silver told CNBC last week in Macao. "There's issues around integrity first and foremost."
In the letter sent to sports betting companies including FanDuel, DraftKings, Fanatics and others, the NBA has placed restrictions on wagers on which player scores the first basket, wagers on players expected to play less than 12 minutes per game and parlays combining multiple bets on the same player's underperformance.
Those types of bets can raise integrity concerns because a single player has the ability to influence the outcome.
The changes follow a series of gambling-related cases involving NBA figures including former players Jontay Porter, Terry Rozier, and Damon Jones and former coach and player Chauncey Billups.
A detail of the NBA logo before the game between the Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors at Little Caesars Arena on March 31, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan.
Nic Antaya | Getty Images
AI monitoring
A separate memo sent Friday to team presidents, general managers, integrity officers and lawyers says the NBA has developed an internal AI-based monitoring platform. The system analyzes basketball data, injury reports, social media information about player availability and individual betting data.
The platform is designed to help the league “promptly identify and investigate potentially suspicious betting activity,” according to the memo from Dan Spillane, the NBA’s executive vice president of league governance and policy.
Silver’s comments underscore the importance the league places on obtaining that information.
“So we want access to that data. We also want control over the markets,” Silver told CNBC.
Increasing education and training
The league is also increasing its training and education around sports betting. The memo said that former NFL player and retired FBI agent Charles Tillman, will provide in-person training to each team.
The league said it has also added new training around sports betting to NBA rookies who will now receive training at the NBA Combine and during the required Rookie Transition program.
The letter also highlights steps the league is taking to better protect players and personnel from harassment and threats by sports bettors.
As betting has become more widespread, some bettors have taken to social media to harass players for their game performance that may be tied to a bet.
To address this, the league has updated its NBA Fan Code of Conduct to highlight the prohibition on betting-related harassment.
The league is also partnering with a third-party service provider to help monitor and control harassing messages. It has also launched a new text message-based hotline to securely report threats.
The memo does not specify how the restrictions would apply to prediction market platforms.
In Macao, Silver said that he's in favor of a national framework when it comes to federal regulation around sports betting.
"We have roughly 40 different judications regulating us right now so to have a consistent policy nationally, I think would be in our best interest," he said.
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