By: James Heider

Late last month, on Oct. 23, the FBI announced its investigation into a player and two coaches involving their role in illegal sports gambling and rigged poker games. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was specifically arrested for being involved with an illegal sports betting scheme using insider information. Rozier, across seven games between March 2023 and 2024, would purposely leave games with a fake injury to ensure his props would go under.

A prop bet is a wager on specific stats or occurrences within an official game, like points scored or number of rebounds. There’s a base number like 15.5 points per game, and the gambler either bets below — the under — or above — the over. Rozier was caught telling people that he would leave the game early by faking an injury to ensure his prop would go under the designated amount. He would then get a cut of the money from his associates who bet on his under.

Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested in connection with a different indictment by the FBI. Billups was accused of working with the mafia in underground poker games with the purpose of rigging games for millions of dollars using various technological cheating devices. Some of these included x-ray glasses where players could see marked cards, an x-ray playing table and bogus card shuffling machines.

The investigation by the FBI, working with the New York City Police Department, arrested a total of 34 people. Some of those arrested have mob ties with the biggest organized crime families in American history, such as the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese. Both Billups and Rozier were indicted on wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges. They have scheduled court hearings for late November and early December.

Director of the FBI Kash Patel had this to say: “Let’s not mince words, this is the insider trading saga for the NBA, that’s what this is.”

Damon Jones is where things get a little more interesting. He was a player and an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and an unofficial assistant coach for the L.A. Lakers at the time of the FBI’s investigation. Allegedly, Jones sold private information to sports bettors. According to the indictment, Jones had a “close relationship” with a “prominent player” and was able to acquire insider information through this connection.

Sources close to ESPN have claimed that this man is none other than the face of the league, LeBron James. This is pure speculation, and LeBron has denied any association with these underground poker games. Billups and Jones were known as “face cards,” which refers to high-profile people such as celebrities and athletes who were there to recruit players for these rigged games, where victims have lost up to $7 million.

The kicker is, this is not the first time the NBA has been in the spotlight for illegal gambling.

Last year, Jontay Porter was permanently banned from playing in the NBA due to breaking the league’s gambling policies. He told private information to sports bettors, limited his participation by faking injuries for prop purposes like Rozier, and even bet on the games themselves.

The biggest scandal comes from disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy. Donaghy was charged and sentenced in 2008 for wire fraud conspiracy and transmitting wagering information. He was a gambling addict himself, who would give inside information to sports gamblers and bet on games he officiated from 2003 to 2007. Donaghy also had alleged mob ties, but they were never proven to be true.

During the investigation, Donaghy claimed that under specific instructions from the NBA itself, referees were to officiate unfairly in NBA playoff games to force Game 7s and cause more games to be played. Donaghy’s claims were investigated by federal employees but did not yield sufficient evidence to back them.

Adam Silver, who is the current commissioner of the NBA, has been summoned to speak in front of Congress in regard to the gambling scandal. The NBA has made no public comment on the summoned hearing but has stated they’re working with the FBI on the issue.

Silver appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” after the arrests were announced. “I think, probably, there should be more regulation, frankly,” Silver told McAfee. “I wish there was federal legislation rather than state by state. I think you’ve got to monitor the amount of promotion, the amount of advertising around it.”

This statement tends to be a bit hypocritical for those following the story, as Silver allowed many partnerships with gambling websites during his time as commissioner. Sportsbooks FanDuel and DraftKings are official gambling sponsors of the NBA, which led some to criticize the league as there has been a sharp rise in bets placed and gambling addictions across the nation.

According to Reuters, there has been a 23.6% increase in sports gambling across America, with a total of more than $147 billion in bets placed in 2024 alone. It has mainly targeted the young male demographic in America, between the ages of 18 and 35. States are reporting increases in calls to gambling helplines, with New Jersey specifically seeing a 277% rise.

The question I pose now is: Why is it legal for sportsbooks to place ads everywhere with no limitations, but there are restrictions for alcohol and an outright ban on nicotine product advertisement? Without federal intervention, the addiction numbers will only rise and the integrity of professional sports organizations in the U.S. will be further scrutinized.