I’m not much of a gambler. I can say for certain that I’ve never made a bet on a sports-betting app while at the Tennessee Titans’ headquarters, a place I routinely frequent as a part of my job.
Legally in this state, though, I could have. And I’d have had no clue – until recently – that doing so would have set off all sorts of alarm bells. Given the location tracking used by betting sites, they’d have probably looked into it and figured out I wasn’t a Titans player or employee. But how can you know? Could have caused real problems.
A hypothetical, but that’s beside the point.
Point is, I didn’t know.
And that means I can’t help but feel for Titans offensive lineman Nicholas Petit-Frere.
On Thursday, the NFL revealed the Titans’ starting right tackle will be suspended six regular-season games “for betting on non-NFL sports at the club facility.” Indefinite suspensions were announced for three other players, except those players were found to have bet on the NFL. Harsh punishments made sense in those instances.
With Petit-Frere, though, it’s more difficult to see what he did wrong.
He is allowed to bet on sports as a resident of Tennessee. He is allowed by the NFL to bet on sports outside of his own league. It’d be OK in the league’s eyes for him to do that at home or at nearly every location in Tennessee. He just isn’t allowed to do it at the Titans’ facility or while traveling with the team.
More: NFL suspends three more players for entire 2023 season for gambling violations
It’s a distinction so seemingly arbitrary – and a violation so careless in nature – that you’ve got to believe Petit-Frere when he says he didn’t know he was breaking the rules.
“I have always strived in every stage of my life to follow the rules,” he said in a statement to ESPN. “I did not knowingly break the rules. Even after attending a league presentation, I was unaware about the specifics around placing bets from a team facility.”
If true, that’s on…
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