NBA orders sportsbooks to drop certain prop bets for the 2026-27 season

The NBA has told its authorised sportsbook partners to stop offering several prop bet markets, including same-player parlays based on multiple statistics, opening tip winner, missed-shot bets and unders on players expected to play fewer than 12 minutes. For high-risk operators and their PSPs, the important detail is that the league is using commercial agreements to shape what can be sold in the regulated market.

1. The restrictions were set out in a league memo sent to operators on Friday and apply to the 2026-27 season. The NBA said it is targeting markets it views as more exposed to abuse, while trying not to push betting activity to illegal operators.
2. Markets being removed include parlays built on multiple statistics for the same player, bets on the opening tip winner, wagers on players missing specific shots, and unders on players expected to play fewer than 12 minutes. In other words, the league is drawing a line around some of the smaller, highly specific prop markets that often sit closest to integrity concerns.
3. The NBA said it can impose these restrictions through its commercial agreements with authorised operators. It estimates those partners account for more than 99 per cent of the US sports betting market, which makes this less of a symbolic announcement and more of a practical rule change for the regulated side of the business.
4. Executive vice president Scott Kaufman-Ross told ESPN that the league is trying to remove problematic bet types without creating a bigger migration to the illegal market. “There’s a balance between ensuring that we are removing problematic bet types but also ensuring that we don’t just move activity into the illegal market,” he said.
5. The NBA also said it considered the broader betting landscape, including prediction markets, when setting the restrictions. It has not announced formal partnerships with prediction market operators, and Kaufman-Ross said enforcement on those platforms would be harder without agreements in place.