Maeve Bidonde, Staff Writer
The NBA fell into fight or flight when a current head coach, current player, and former player were all arrested in connection with a gambling scandal that had two federal indictments attached to them. According to USA Today, the arrests were for illegal gambling on games and rigged poker games that allegedly had mafia ties. The people facing those charges are Portland Trailblazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat point guard Terry Rozier, and former Cleveland Cavaliers combo guard Damon Jones.
The investigation, which is still ongoing, is connected to another investigation that led to the suspension of former Toronto Raptor Jontay Porter. Federal Authorities revealed that the scheme allegedly spanned several years and that 30 co-defendants have also been accused in the case thus far. Billups and Rozier were put on immediate leave. Their lawyers denied the allegations emphasizing that Rozier is not a gambler, and Billups did not gamble on basketball games.
Federal Authorities allege the scheme started in 2019, and was backed by the Gambino and Genovese crime families and defrauded victims out of $50,000. The scheme involved a specialized sorting machine that fed information about players’ hands and an off-site operator fed the information to Billups. Then, in 2022, the co-defendants used private information known to the NBA and NBA players that would affect the outcomes of the games. In 2023, Jones told his co-conspirators that a player matching the description of Lebron James would not be playing against the Bucks. James had not been ruled out in the official injury report at that point.
Later in 2023, Rozier told a co-defendant that he would prematurely take himself out of the game against the Pelicans. The intel was then sold to other co-conspirators and a promise of $100,000 from gambling winnings was promised from one co-defendant to another. After more schemes and colluding, Billups, Rozier, and Jones were arrested October 23rd 2025.
Since the scandal, the NFL has sent out two memos to players and league and club staff reminding them about the NFL’s gambling policies. According to The Athletic, the NFLPA said that NFL players “should be aware that the NFL is monitoring player podcasts and investigating those that may be associated with or sponsored by any gambling entity.” It also outlined what is and is not permitted under the league’s gambling policy.” The NFL policy defines gambling as “the wagering of money or other things of value, on an event with an uncertain outcome with the intent of winning additional money or thing(s) of value.”
The memo further states that NFL staff and players can engage in legal non-sports gambling on their own time and not while traveling or on company time. They also must report obligations such as gambling debt greater than $10,000. The NFL had to suspend Tennessee Titan’s Wide Receiver Calvin Ridley for the entire 2022 season for betting on NFL games including Atlanta Falcons games which was the team he was playing for at the time.
The investigation into the NBA scandal is still ongoing at this time but arrests have been made.
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