NBA Gambling Scandal Leads to Arrests of Coaches and Players
By: Leyah Jackson
Over 30 people are being investigated as a part of a federal investigation into sports gambling within the NBA. Among those arrested were Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones last Thursday.
“This should be under a lot of scrutiny and attention because it enables disingenuous rhetoric toward an organization that I, and a lot of people, take pleasure in for unfair monetary gains,” said Quintarion Hays, a first-year computer science major and basketball fan.
According to ESPN, FBI director Kash Patel reported that the arrests were a result of a year-long investigation covering 11 states and involving tens of millions of dollars. Law enforcement officials said the charges involve four Mafia families and organized crime networks.
Terry Rozier is accused of participating in an illegal sports betting scheme using insider NBA information. Chauncy Billups is charged in a separate indictment alleging a scheme to rig underground poker games that were backed by Mafia families.
According to ESPN, Billups was not directly named in the sports betting indictment. Instead, there is a description of a co-conspirator who allegedly told a bettor that a number of Trail Blazers players would miss a March 2023 game who had a playing and coaching career that matches Billups.
Damon Jones pled not guilty to charges he profited from rigged poker games and provided sports bettors with nonpublic information about injuries to stars.
Within a report by CNN, prosecutors cited a text from Damon Jones to his co-conspirators within the indictment. “Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out! (Player 3) is out tonight. Bet enough so Djones can eat to (sic) now!”
Player 3, it turns out, was LeBron James, who would be absent from the Los Angeles Lakers game, affecting its outcome.
“After hearing about this scandal, it encourages me to question the authenticity of the game — how the players play and how the games themselves are officiated,” said Hays.
