WatchoverBlog ·
The NBA just banned these bets. Here's what it tells you.
The NBA season tipped off this week with a short list of bets you can no longer place. The league and its sportsbook partners agreed to drop several kinds of player prop wagers, after betting cases put them under a spotlight. The list is worth reading closely, because it says something about the bets that are still on the menu.
What changed
On 16 October 2026, ESPN reported that the NBA and sportsbooks had agreed to restrict several betting markets for the new season. According to the reports, they include:
- Parlays built on the under of several stats for the same player.
- “First of” bets, such as who wins the opening tip or whether a specific player gets the first shot, rebound, assist or steal.
- Under bets on players expected to average fewer than 12 minutes a game.
Player props in general are still offered. The stated aim is to help protect the integrity of the game. The move follows federal charges filed in October 2025 that allege some people used inside information, such as knowing a player planned to leave a game early, to bet on that player's stats. Those allegations have not been proven in court.
What the ban tells you
Look at what these markets have in common. They turn on a single player, a single moment or a small number of minutes. That makes them easy to influence and easy for someone with inside knowledge to exploit. Leagues don't ban bets because they're unpopular. They ban them because the outcome can be known, or nudged, by someone other than you.
That's the uncomfortable part for anyone who bets on props. Every bet has someone on the other side, and the price reflects what the market knows. In the narrowest markets, you can never be sure who knows more than you do.
Props are built to keep you betting
Even without any foul play, player props work differently from a simple bet on who wins. There are dozens on every game, many settle within minutes, and live markets update after every possession. More bets per night means more decisions, more chances to chase a loss and less time to stop and think. If several props are stacked into one slip, every extra leg has to come true together, and the odds of the whole slip shrink fast. We walk through that maths in he said he sold his car to bet.
If game night has turned into betting night
If you notice you can't watch a game without a slip open, that's worth taking seriously. A plan for the evening helps more than willpower in the moment; our post on big match days without betting has one you can set up ahead of time.
Watch the game, not the slip. Watchover blocks gambling sites in Safari, Chrome and in-app browsers. You lock the protection in a calm moment, so it can't be switched off at halftime. If it is switched off, someone you trust hears about it within minutes. The urge screen is always free.
Our guide to sports betting addiction covers the signs to look out for and the first steps.
Source: reporting of 16 October 2026 (ESPN, via Deseret News and others). The 2025 charges are allegations; they have not been proven in court.
Frequently asked
Can you still bet on NBA player props?
Yes. The agreement drops several specific markets, such as same-player under parlays, “first of” bets and unders on low-minute players, but player props in general are still offered.
Why are player props riskier than betting on who wins?
They depend on one player or one moment, there are many of them every game and many settle within minutes. That means more bets, faster decisions and, in the narrowest markets, the chance that someone on the other side knows more than you.
This post is for information only and isn't a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment.