National Football League

NFL makes three Dolphins back out of poker tournament

Published Jun. 11, 2015 1:44 p.m. ET

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By Steve DelVecchio

The NFL is taking no chances this offseason when it comes to the possibility of the league being loosely associated with gambling. Three Miami Dolphins players learned that this week when they were informed they will not be allowed to participate in a poker tournament.

A.J. Francis, Jason Fox and Jordan Cameron were slated to make celebrity appearances at Andy Slater’s monthly “See You Later” poker tournament at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek on Tuesday evening. Here’s what the flyer looked like:

Slater, who hosts a sports radio show in South Florida, was told on Monday that the three players would not be permitted to participate in the poker tournament.

“The NFL is just doing this [with the Dolphins] as a precaution,” Slater said, per Nick Sortal of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “It’s an absolute joke. The NFL is built on gambling. This is the players’ time off, and they hang out with fans at a legal gambling event at a legit casino.”

The Dolphins players were being promoted as “bounties” in the $94 buy-in tournament, which meant poker players would receive bonuses if they eliminated one of the three.

The NFL prohibited Francis, Fox and Cameron from prohibiting for the same reason league officials nixed Tony Romo’s fantasy football event in Las Vegas and later trolled him on Twitter over it. The league pretends it is terrified to be associated with gambling, though half of the teams have partnerships with fantasy football leagues that cost money. Figure that one out.

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