Mike Florio wants Roger Goodell to ban NFL players from betting on any sports - “Makes no sense”

Over the last few years, betting on sports has been slowly creeping into the NFL. Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio wants it gone completely. After several incidents have seen players suspended, most noteably Calvin Ridley for a whole season, Florio has his thoughts on the issue.

With reports of an unnamed NFL player losing $8 million in betting, the former lawyer wants the NFL and Roger Goodell to do something about it. The odd thing is that players can't bet on sports when inside a team facility, but out in the street they can.

That in itself is rather odd. Florio, who was a guest on the Rich Eisen Show, has detailed his thoughts on the current gambling issue in the NFL.

Florio said:

"Why does the NFL let players gamble on any sport? Why not just have players under the same rules as everyone else? Wouldn't it be a lot easier to explain it to everyone if the rule was you can't bet on any sports at any time, any place? That would clear up so much of this confusion because I think that's where it comes from."

"I think guys like Jameson Williams didn't know that if you stand outside the Detroit Lions facility on the street, you can pull up your phone and hit the FanDuel app and bet on NBA basketball. But the moment you walk through the door, it's an affront to the integrity of the game and you're suspended six games. That makes no sense. Why is that rule in place? Just treat the players like the non-players."

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Is Mike Florio right to want to ban gambling altogether?

Calvin Ridley was suspended for a whole season for gambling.

Mike Florio does have a point. Employees and players are under two different rules when it comes to gambling. As he stated above, players inside a team facility can't bet, yet they walk 10 meters outside, and they can.

That is just odd.

The much easier path forward would simply be to outright ban betting during the NFL season. Problem solved, right?

The other issue is that with betting becoming such a big industry and companies releasing apps and putting commercials on TV, it is nearly impossible to escape.

The desire to bet is clearly always there and players simply can't stop themselves. Why not make a blanket rule of no betting at all, as Mike Florio stated.

It would protect the integrity of the game as well and give everyone a clear directive to follow as Mike Florio said. However, seeing as there is so much money to be made from betting partnerships and sponsorships, we can't see an outright ban on gambling coming anytime soon.