Josh Shaw may be dumb, but he ain’t stupid.
The Cardinals defensive back who has been suspended through the 2020 season for betting on football bet on his team to lose, according to David Purdum of ESPN.com.
Per the report, Shaw placed a parlay bet on November 10 at a Caesars sports book in Las Vegas, on the second halves of a trio of games. The bet included the Buccaneers minus one point against the Cardinals; Tampa Bay was leading at intermission, 17-13. The Buccaneers won the game, 30-27, but they failed to cover the spread for the final two quarters.
Shaw signed with the Cardinals in March, and he landed on injured reserve in August. He listed “professional football player” on his application for a betting account, prompting Caesars to notify the Nevada Gaming Control Board and then the NFL.
So this one really did fall right into the NFL’s lap, which does nothing to eliminate questions regarding whether players and/or coaches and/or others connected to the league and its teams are placing bets in a sufficiently elaborate way (e.g., not in their own name and title) to avoid detection.
Regardless, the risk of getting caught isn’t worth it. Shaw’s crime was minimal, but the league threw the book at him. With plenty of other forms of gambling available to players at all times, there’s simply no reason to risk both the money they have and their ability to keep making more of it.