12th Man On The Field - Gambling Cartels

[Lucky Luciano]

it's a new era in the nfl. gambling cartels in all probablility decide who wins games and who loses or at least the spread on points and probably about a hundred different things that can be bet upon.

it's not even close anymore. the refs can choose to shave points or decide who wins or loses on selective penalties and calls during multiple games every week. they control the clock and the flow of each and every game which in turn controls the scores or other gambling points.

is there any investigation into these allegations? certainly not. too much money is involved. the nfl itself is either complicit with this or just plain stupid, the same is for the owners. the rules that they implement are so ambiguous that there is no right or wrong calls which lets these semi pro part time officials make calls however they want without ANY repercussions thus leading into corruption. bad call? no problem, see you next week. need a new vacation for you and your family? no problem. someone out there is willing to pay you.

the nfl is a multi billion dollar corporation that is now sucking money out of gambling cartels through advertising and other means of income. YET... they can't afford to hire FULL TIME employee's that are accountable to being promoted or FIRED? do they receive any benefits other than salary? do they even have a department that monitors these temps for honesty and integrity?

unless there is government intervention with threats to the nfl in regards to tax regulations or some other means that will cost the MONEY you won't see the nfl policing themselves.

so... are we watching a sport anymore or just an exhibition similar to all star wrestling?

inquiring minds want to know

[adam]

26 minutes ago, Lucky Luciano said:

it's a new era in the nfl. gambling cartels in all probablility decide who wins games and who loses or at least the spread on points and probably about a hundred different things that can be bet upon.

it's not even close anymore. the refs can choose to shave points or decide who wins or loses on selective penalties and calls during multiple games every week. they control the clock and the flow of each and every game which in turn controls the scores or other gambling points.

is there any investigation into these allegations? certainly not. too much money is involved. the nfl itself is either complicit with this or just plain stupid, the same is for the owners. the rules that they implement are so ambiguous that there is no right or wrong calls which lets these semi pro part time officials make calls however they want without ANY repercussions thus leading into corruption. bad call? no problem, see you next week. need a new vacation for you and your family? no problem. someone out there is willing to pay you.

the nfl is a multi billion dollar corporation that is now sucking money out of gambling cartels through advertising and other means of income. YET... they can't afford to hire FULL TIME employee's that are accountable to being promoted or FIRED? do they receive any benefits other than salary? do they even have a department that monitors these temps for honesty and integrity?

unless there is government intervention with threats to the nfl in regards to tax regulations or some other means that will cost the MONEY you won't see the nfl policing themselves.

so... are we watching a sport anymore or just an exhibition similar to all star wrestling?

inquiring minds want to know

ESPN has been around for 45 years now and the first letter in their name is Entertainment.  Once the crazy revenue started to come in with the cable TV licensing deals, the money exploded. With money comes greed and fraud. There is no doubt there are things going on that artificial in nature. The league was supposed to have things in place to combat some of the human error, and if anything, it has gotten worse. 

How do you call a penalty that is not there? It is one thing to miss a call (didn't see it, didn't think it was severe enough, etc), but to call things that are not fouls are game breaking. 

[Lucky Luciano]

On 10/14/2025 at 9:13 AM, adam said:

ESPN has been around for 45 years now and the first letter in their name is Entertainment.  Once the crazy revenue started to come in with the cable TV licensing deals, the money exploded. With money comes greed and fraud. There is no doubt there are things going on that artificial in nature. The league was supposed to have things in place to combat some of the human error, and if anything, it has gotten worse. 

How do you call a penalty that is not there? It is one thing to miss a call (didn't see it, didn't think it was severe enough, etc), but to call things that are not fouls are game breaking. 

the only solution i can see is if CONGRESS does the same thing they did with MLB and the juicers.

bring GOD elle, his cronies and a few OWNERS up before a committee under oath and ask them why the NFL can't afford to not only pay for FULL TIME refs but review these bad calls and non calls and ask why this is happening. ask what involvement gambling has in regards to the honesty and integrity of the NFL. ask why these refs are not held accountable like any other job or sport. suspensions or flat out firings. ask why the nfl itself is not asking these questions.

full time employed refs should be able to figure out how to amend the rules and regulations to make calls more consistent and get rid of rules that can't be enforced in each and every game. if not they lose their jobs just like anyone else. also held accountable for any bribery by ANYONE which would result in legal repercussions for fraud and jail time.

also any tax breaks or subsidies the nfl gets is subject to being removed. money talks and bullshit walks.

[Stinger226]

On 10/14/2025 at 10:20 AM, Lucky Luciano said:

it's a new era in the nfl. gambling cartels in all probablility decide who wins games and who loses or at least the spread on points and probably about a hundred different things that can be bet upon.

it's not even close anymore. the refs can choose to shave points or decide who wins or loses on selective penalties and calls during multiple games every week. they control the clock and the flow of each and every game which in turn controls the scores or other gambling points.

is there any investigation into these allegations? certainly not. too much money is involved. the nfl itself is either complicit with this or just plain stupid, the same is for the owners. the rules that they implement are so ambiguous that there is no right or wrong calls which lets these semi pro part time officials make calls however they want without ANY repercussions thus leading into corruption. bad call? no problem, see you next week. need a new vacation for you and your family? no problem. someone out there is willing to pay you.

the nfl is a multi billion dollar corporation that is now sucking money out of gambling cartels through advertising and other means of income. YET... they can't afford to hire FULL TIME employee's that are accountable to being promoted or FIRED? do they receive any benefits other than salary? do they even have a department that monitors these temps for honesty and integrity?

unless there is government intervention with threats to the nfl in regards to tax regulations or some other means that will cost the MONEY you won't see the nfl policing themselves.

so... are we watching a sport anymore or just an exhibition similar to all star wrestling?

inquiring minds want to know

As much I understand the greed part of the human experience, you would have to have a whole ref crew in on it. If the penalty on Theo took points off the board, that meant the cartel had the points with Washington. If that was the case, they lose the bet. One individual ref can affect several plays and still not change the natural outcome of the game. A whole crew is different and odds of that are slim. That would also have to include the review office of the NFL that can overturn any challenged play. 

I love conspiracy theories but this one doesn't resonate with common sense. Some events like the Black Sox scandal from 1917 just doesnt happen anymore. Everyone was in on it and one guy didnt go thru with it and it was exposed. Someone may have more knowledge than me but it one ref was paid to help get a different result and it doesnt happen, money lost, and I would suspect the gamblers would be very upset with that. Since they are gamblers, they would already know the odds. It would almost be impossible to get what result you want unless the whole crew was involved and then the review office of the NFL would have to be in on it. 

[jason]

9 hours ago, Lucky Luciano said:

full time employed refs should be able to figure out how to amend the rules and regulations to make calls more consistent and get rid of rules that can't be enforced in each and every game. if not they lose their jobs just like anyone else. 

That won’t help. The NFL officials as is spend basically a full time schedule reading rules, studying video, attending clinics, participating in rules study groups, reviewing performance, analyzing tendencies, etc. And that doesn’t include staying in shape or travel.

Reality is, the same dudes would get hired, and a majority would be due to connections, nepotism, demographics, and/or other factors before actual officiating prowess/performance.

[Lucky Luciano]

17 hours ago, jason said:

That won’t help. The NFL officials as is spend basically a full time schedule reading rules, studying video, attending clinics, participating in rules study groups, reviewing performance, analyzing tendencies, etc. And that doesn’t include staying in shape or travel.

Reality is, the same dudes would get hired, and a majority would be due to connections, nepotism, demographics, and/or other factors before actual officiating prowess/performance.

the first paragraph is exactly why the officials should be full time employee's for their benefit as well as ours. they should have salary and benefits no different than the players or any other hired employee.

i think also if they were given rule changes by the league that they intended to implement, officials should be able to review the rules to see if they would not only be of benefit but whether they could be enforced impartially each and every play. if the rules did not meet with the officials agreement then this should be sent back to the league to either fix the problem or cancel the change.

agree on the 2nd paragraph but... with a review and regulatory board for officials they would be subject to approval and performance. they would also be subject to maintain integrity both in the spirit of the nfl and for legal ramifications. i believe MLB had some such system back in the day that regulated players and umpires against any gambling or other problems that could involve bribery etc. remember the black sox?

the NBA has had a few troubles with crooked officials also if i remember right (i may not be remembering right as i never follow that sport) so it's not like this is something new. it is just something that the nfl may have turned a blind eye to for money.

it has been stated that you would need an entire crew to be on the payroll for game fixing to work. that is not true. one official alone can influence the game and it's outcome. shaving points for refs or players has been around for a long time and has been regulated in the past. with a review board this would be a lot easier to control full time employee's. also the fear of being fired would certainly deter most officials.

[Mongo3451]

The only thing that would help is making the refs pass a polygraph before taking the field.

[Lucky Luciano]

5 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

The only thing that would help is making the refs pass a polygraph before taking the field.

that seems a bit extreme for every game. maybe take one once a month? better yet have a quality control team that also looks into this to check for discrepancies. something to keep this game honest especially in this day and age of legal gambling.

[jason]

3 hours ago, Lucky Luciano said:agree on the 2nd paragraph but... with a review and regulatory board for officials they would be subject to approval and performance. they would also be subject to maintain integrity both in the spirit of the nfl and for legal ramifications. i believe MLB had some such system back in the day that regulated players and umpires against any gambling or other problems that could involve bribery etc. remember the black sox?

 

Performance is reviewed extensively. Graded and everything. But it comes down to who reviews them having the skills and knowledge to do so. Which means former officials. And those former officials know the current ones. They worked with them. They agree philosophically with them. It’s way harder to fix it than you think.

As for gambling, that’s a 100% negative for all of them. But if the NBA gambling thing proved anything, it’s still possible even though it’s illegal.

[Lucky Luciano]

4 hours ago, jason said:

Performance is reviewed extensively. Graded and everything. But it comes down to who reviews them having the skills and knowledge to do so. Which means former officials. And those former officials know the current ones. They worked with them. They agree philosophically with them. It’s way harder to fix it than you think.

As for gambling, that’s a 100% negative for all of them. But if the NBA gambling thing proved anything, it’s still possible even though it’s illegal.

as atrocious as some of these games have been over the years, has a single ref ever been fired? are they reprimanded, suspended for a period of time? if not then this system is totally broken.

[jason]

11 minutes ago, Lucky Luciano said:

as atrocious as some of these games have been over the years, has a single ref ever been fired? are they reprimanded, suspended for a period of time? if not then this system is totally broken.

Yes. A few got demoted before this year. 

[Mongo3451]

5 hours ago, Lucky Luciano said:

that seems a bit extreme for every game. maybe take one once a month? better yet have a quality control team that also looks into this to check for discrepancies. something to keep this game honest especially in this day and age of legal gambling.

It definitely is.  I wrote validation protocols in a FDA regulated environment, so I can get pretty whacky.  What about a Taser to the groin upon the thought of impropriety?...🤪