The news has been confirmed by a source who spoke to ESPN, a media publication, and said that Austin had breached the NFL’s gambling policy.
Austin, who plays for the New York Jets, has denied wagering on NFL games through his lawyer, William P. Deni Jr, who spoke with various media representatives. Nevertheless, the wide receivers coach is said to be suspended from the league for at least one year, with the NFL denying any further comment until after the issue has been resolved.
Miles Austin Is Facing Investigation and Has Been Suspended
According to ESPN, the investigation against Austin has been going on for a while and it’s not either sudden or surprising to many NFL insiders. His lawyer, though, confirmed that Austin had participated in some form of gambling described as non-NFL professional sports and table games.
However, the NFL has a very strict non-gambling policy which means that players, coaches, and overall league personnel are all prohibited from placing a wager on any kind of sports from the big leagues or other organizations, including the NBA, NHL, PGA, MLS, MLB, NCAA, and so on.
This prohibition includes both international as well as local sports. The NFL has taken further issue with the coach, arguing that he had placed his bets while on the grounds of the team’s facility, which is also prohibited under current NFL rules. The NFL is confident that it has sufficient evidence to press on against the coach, having tracked his gambling activity to a specific website that ties him to the wagers.
Austin is not the only high-profile case of an athlete gambling on sports. Other players from professional leagues in the United States have been caught in similar situations and investigated by governing bodies. Most recently, the UFC had to suspend a prominent coach and launch an investigation into a fight that he allegedly fixed.
The UFC has been one of the organizations in professional sports to act very slowly in imposing rules that prohibit insiders from gambling, although the organization did pass an initial set of rules that suspended the rights of fighters to bet on the promotion’s fights. However, this ban did not extend to other MMA promotions.
In the case of Austin, though, the league he has chosen to play under has much stricter rules on gambling and how players behave.