WNBA approves players gambling

Published by itstooimportant.com in WNBA · Friday 31 Jul 2026 · 5 minutes

The WNBA is proving once again to be the one of the stupidest organizations on earth.

The rule book states in Section 5(c) that:

“Any player found by the Commissioner after a hearing to have been guilty of wagering (directly or indirectly), or of offering or attempting to wager, money or anything of value on the outcome, score, or any other aspect of any WNBA Competition shall, in the sole discretion of the Commissioner, be subject to a fine, suspension, and/or dismissal and disqualification from any further association with the WNBA.”

With the guidance of the WNBA the post showing Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese placing a $400 bet was published on the WNBA's official X account (formerly Twitter). Not long after posting, the WNBA took the post down. Why might you ask did this even occur?

Growing up in Chicago in the late 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s sports betting was relegated to Las Vegas and the back room of bars with connections to “bookies”. We knew of the Black Sox Scandal where gamblers convinced White Sox players to throw games in the 1919 World Series. While the justice system said in a court trial they did not do it, eight players were banned from playing Major League Baseball (MLB) for life. Per Wikipedia, the first MLB commissioner, Former Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who the MLB owners hired with the goal to get one or two of the 8 players in question on their team, pulled a fast one on the owners by banning the players stating:

Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ball game; no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ball game; no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing ball games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball. Of course, I don't know that any of these men will apply for reinstatement, but if they do, the above are at least a few of the rules that will be enforced. Just keep in mind that, regardless of the verdict of juries, baseball is competent to protect itself against crooks, both inside and outside the game.

It is this ruling that has kept Pete Rose, the MBL career hits leader out of the Hall of Fame.

You would think (maybe not) that WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert would have some sense of history to keep her staff from even thinking of posting a picture of competing players offering a bet on an upcoming game. Why have anyone from the front office be pictured in violating a rule of league eligibility?

Could it be a problem with sponsorship? Again, going back to my upbringing it was the City of Sin and back rooms of bars where you gambled on sports. Not any more. From “search.brave.com” this is reported about WNBA gambling sponsorships:

Key partnerships include:

DraftKings: Official Sports Betting and Daily Fantasy Partner (announced July 2024).
BetMGM: Official gaming partner since 2021, with additional ties to the Las Vegas Aces.
FanDuel: Official sportsbook and daily fantasy sponsor.

These collaborations allow betting operators to use WNBA branding and data, while the league promotes responsible gaming through initiatives like the American Gaming Association’s "Have A Game Plan" campaign.

Looking at the rule, it seems there is a loophole. The rule (listed above) states “Any player found by the Commissioner after a hearing….”. Why do Reese and Bueckers have no punishment? Just have no hearing.

Who calls for the hearing? There seems to be no formal process for this outside of Union Representation in Contract talks or appeals from players or team management. It would be absurd that the commissioner could not call for a hearing on an issue.

This goes as another WNBA bad optics situation from a front office that has no clue in how to be a front office and a commissioner who seems to visibly project her job as holding up Jerseys during the draft and handing out trophies to the boos of crowds. After thirty years of being subsidized by the NBA it is not hard watching the decisions of the last three seasons that there is a real reason that the WNBA’s perceptual incompetence and lack of historical perspective.

Every sports league commissioner needs to know the history of MLB’s first commissioner and the correcting of the dangers of league participants involvement with gambling. Anything less is grounds for dismissal.