Three people related to the NBA have been arrested in the newest betting scheme.
Any form of sports betting is legal in 39 states, but what makes it illegal is when people use private information to bet or purposely change individual/team performances to benefit gamblers. This has long been an issue with sports players, fans and staff.
ESPN stated in an article that on Oct. 23, “Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones have been arrested as part of a pair of wide-ranging investigations related to illegal sports betting and rigged poker games backed by the Mafia, authorities announce.”
Rozier is accused of being part of an illegal scheme with betting on seven NBA games between March of 2023 through March of 2024. Rozier and other gamblers associated within this scheme allegedly used information unreleased to the public about NBA players, coaches and teams.
Billups was accused of a separate incident, with the New York Times reporting that he was, “bringing wealthy people into poker games in return for a portion of the illegal profits.” These poker games have also been backed by Mafia families. Jones has been tied to both incidents, allegedly providing inside information that had not been released to the public.
In another ESPN article describing recent illegal betting scandals, “The United States Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to strike down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protections act — a 1992 law barring state-authorized sports gambling (Nevada had been primarily the only exception). The ruling, which ended a nearly six-year legal battle, opened the door for any state interested in legalizing sports gambling to do so.”
“I believe sports betting is slowly but gradually ruining the NBA due to parleys and heckling gamblers at the games getting in the way mentally of players [and] interfering and influencing performances.” stated Issac Gonzalez, a Junior at Millikan in the PEACE Pathway. Issac is an avid basketball fan and was asked if illegal sports gambling was messing up the NBA. When Issac was also asked if illegal sports betting should continue, he said, “I do believe that all 50 states should ban sports betting due to the whole [illegal] betting situation becoming bigger than just the NBA…”
Although sports betting has been legal in 39 states since 2018, these are incidents where the legalized part has been taken advantage of, with players and/or teams changing performances and inside information being used to a gambler’s benefit. This latest incident hasn’t been the only current illegal betting scandal as MLB pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are facing trial after they “were indicted by prosecutors in Brooklyn, N.Y., on charges related to an alleged scheme to rig bets on pitches thrown in MLB games”, according to an article on the MLB website. The issues with illegal sports betting have been ongoing for a while now and it is up to sports leagues and authorities to put it to an end.
