Santonio Holmes Among 25 NFL Players Investigated for Casino Investment

by John B on Jun 18, 2011 8:43 AM EDT

Santonio Holmes is among 25 NFL players the league is investigating for an investment in a casino in Alabama.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed the investigation Friday, a day after Yahoo! Sports reported that wide receivers Terrell Owens, Santonio Holmes, Santana Moss and other players had invested some $20 million in Country Crossing casino. The report also named defensive tackle Gerard Warren and linebacker Adalius Thomas, a free agent who played for the New England Patriots until his release before last season.

NFL rules bar employees from involvement with any gaming operation. Players violating that rule could be subject to fines or suspensions and have to give up their investment.

Holmes is in theory one strike away from a year long suspension in the league's conduct policy. Even so, it is tough to imagine the NFL is going to bring down the hammer on him for something like this. They tend to use that rule for legal problems, not investments they should probably avoid. Forcing these guys to get rid of this investment and perhaps fines seems more likely. In any event, nobody can say for sure because a new CBA could have changes to the conduct policy. This is something to keep an eye on with the pending free agent.

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How can they not make Edwards the #1 priority now.

by dawg1331 on Jun 18, 2011 9:11 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

If the team investigates it and finds that nothing will come of it. That’s how.

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by John B on Jun 18, 2011 9:17 AM EDT up reply actions

Cause Edwards has a DUI charge in NY coming up.

And the home of the .... JETS!!!
Now lets get a G-D snack!!!
"You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, f**k it, I don't care what you think."-Roy McDonald

by Noble_Lance on Jun 18, 2011 10:53 AM EDT up reply actions

which isn't at all likely to affect his playing status

versus the much more expensive Holmes who is one stone’s throw away from missing a year.

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by Bro Namath on Jun 18, 2011 6:28 PM EDT up reply actions

And that's the real problem.

Do you take the guy with high rewards but could be gone for a year. Or do you take the other great guy who may not have such a knack for clutch plays but is safer in the long hall.

And the home of the .... JETS!!!
Now lets get a G-D snack!!!
"You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, f**k it, I don't care what you think."-Roy McDonald

by Noble_Lance on Jun 18, 2011 7:00 PM EDT up reply actions

This could be really really bad

The NFL doesn’t want to give any impression that the games may be “fixed”. Knowing that players have an investment in a casino that can make or lose money based on the performance of their investors/players it becomes a major problem.

To play the crazy guy… What if the casino had a large amount of money on the Jets to beat the Phish last year and stood to make a nice profit if the Phish would win. Holmes dropped an easy TD that ended up being the difference in the game. Does it look bad to the NFL that a player may have made money through an investment because they dropped a ball? Maybe. Would it set a bad example if the NFL didn’t punish guys for investing in a casino and violating a league rule? Definitely.

"Schotty... You Suck!" - Mark Sanchez

by jetsbill on Jun 18, 2011 10:00 AM EDT reply actions

It’s not that simple. In a lot of cases, these guys are leaving their financial affairs to professionals. These players might not have even been aware where their money was invested.

They’ll probably have to divest their money and maybe get a slap on the wrist fine, but the league probably wouldn’t come down in a heavy handed way unless they could prove something like that happened IMO.

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by John B on Jun 18, 2011 10:41 AM EDT up reply actions

I don't think it will be harsh for the players

I mean its a casino, I don’t remember casinos outside of Vegas that could bet sports so sure its gambling but its not factoring on their successes or failures.

And the home of the .... JETS!!!
Now lets get a G-D snack!!!
"You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, f**k it, I don't care what you think."-Roy McDonald

by Noble_Lance on Jun 18, 2011 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions

That's just it

It’s not about the actual investment. It’s about the leagues image. It doesn’t matter if an outside investor was making investments without the players permissions (I doubt this is the actual case as it’s nearly 700k per player) what matters is how it makes the league look. And the league has a rule barring employees from being involved with anything gambling to avoid any type of perception that a game may be rigged.

This is not good at all, and for Holmes, it shows another case of bad judgement on his part.

"Schotty... You Suck!" - Mark Sanchez

by jetsbill on Jun 18, 2011 11:18 AM EDT up reply actions

Its 25 players, for the love of booze

You honestly think that all 25 of them would have invested in a place together if they thought something bad would happen.

And the home of the .... JETS!!!
Now lets get a G-D snack!!!
"You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, f**k it, I don't care what you think."-Roy McDonald

by Noble_Lance on Jun 18, 2011 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions

You think

20 million dollars of 25 guys money was invested without any of them knowing about it? Or do you think they just didn’t know that it was against NFL rules to participate in gambling? I think these guys made a stupid mistake, but it’s a mistake that is against the rules of the league. How could they honestly not have known that this would cause a problem?

"Schotty... You Suck!" - Mark Sanchez

by jetsbill on Jun 18, 2011 10:40 PM EDT up reply actions

It’s easy to make these statements in hindsight. These guys have a million things going on, though, and many leave their financial affairs to professionals. Odds are the thought never entered their minds or they wouldn’t have been involved.

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by John B on Jun 19, 2011 12:48 PM EDT up reply actions

I think you’re making a ( not illogical) assumption that these guys are smart about their money, but frankly a lot of athletes are careless about whom they trust and what those guys do with it.

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by John B on Jun 19, 2011 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions

And the league has a rule barring employees from being involved with anything gambling to avoid any type of perception that a game may be rigged.

With all due respect, you’d have to make quite a leap to go from guy makes perfectly legal (although against league rules) investment in casino in state where sports gambling is illegal to the games are fixed.

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by John B on Jun 18, 2011 12:48 PM EDT up reply actions

Huh?

I said the league want’s to avoid any type of “perception” of the game being fixed. Which is exactly the reason the league ban’s this type of involvement. How exactly is that a leap? Or do you think the league ban’s their employees from being involved with gambling because they’re worried their employees will lose money?

Or does the league rule say…. “It is against league rules for any employee to participate in gambling activity in states where sports betting is permitted”

I just don’t see how the league can not punish all of these guys for violating a rule that is in place to avoid any perception that the competition may be compromised.

"Schotty... You Suck!" - Mark Sanchez

by jetsbill on Jun 18, 2011 10:37 PM EDT up reply actions

The thing is it doesn’t follow (to me at least) how anybody could perceive based on this that competition was compromised by any of these guys.

Nobody said there will be no punishment. I only said it will likely be a slap on the wrist like a fine or even just forcing them to divest similarly so the NFL can provide the perception it acted.

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by John B on Jun 19, 2011 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions

The NFL is just looking for ways to make this offseason worse.

by JetKing55 on Jun 18, 2011 11:51 AM EDT reply actions

I'm with JB here, this really isn't a big deal.

These guys will be required to sell out their shares and it will all be forgotten. Like JB said, these guys don’t micro-manage their money. They have business managers/investors that handle these things.

Of there’s the appearance of impropriety, but that’s why they’re being told to pull their investments.

No harm, no foul. And that’s why there will be no harsh punishment, if any at all. There’s no need to draw any more attention to the matter. Nothing good comes of it. And I’m sure the rest of the money managers out there got the message.

by Crackback on Jun 20, 2011 8:59 AM EDT via mobile reply actions