The sports world was rocked on Thursday by the arrests of Chauncey Billups, head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, and other N.B.A. figures in connection with gambling schemes, including rigged illegal poker games run by the Mafia.
The schemes, revealed in two federal indictments, are the latest gambling scandals tied to college and professional sports. One, related to illegal betting on N.B.A. games using insider information, threatens to cast suspicion over the integrity of the league, which just began its new season two days ago.
The case in which Mr. Billups and others were accused involved what prosecutors said was an illegal poker ring that Mafia families used to steal more than $7 million from victims.
The indictments were made public as the N.B.A. begins its season and television deals worth $76 billion over 11 years. The league receives millions in advertising and licensing deals from legal sports-gambling companies.
Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, said the betting schemes netted “tens of millions.” The big online gambling houses like FanDuel and DraftKings rake in billions of dollars annually; more than $2 billion was wagered across New York State in September alone.
Here’s what we know about the cases.
Who was charged, and with what?
Six people were indicted in the insider-betting scheme. Among them were Terry Rozier, an N.B.A. veteran who played the last two seasons with the Miami Heat, and Damon Jones, who played in the N.B.A. from 1998 to 2009 and was later an assistant coach. Four of their friends and associates were also indicted: Eric Earnest, Marves Fairley, Shane Hennen and Deniro Laster.
They were charged with using insider information about injuries and starting lineups to make fraudulent bets. Prosecutors say they encouraged others to make fraudulent bets, and laundered their winnings in multiple instances between December 2022 and March 2024. Mr. Rozier was also charged with rigging the outcome of a bet.
In the illegal poker scheme, Mr. Billups was charged along with more than two dozen other people. They included three of the defendants in the N.B.A. betting case — Mr. Jones, Mr. Earnest and Mr. Hennen.
Mr. Billups played 17 years in the N.B.A. and won a championship in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last year. He is charged with being a “face card” — a celebrity former athlete used to lure victims into illegal poker games. The poker players were then cheated out of millions with high-tech devices that gave their opponents an advantage, prosecutors said.
Were any other players involved?
According to the basketball indictment, Mr. Jones provided gamblers with inside information that a “prominent” player for the Los Angeles Lakers would not play in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Feb. 9, 2023. Mr. Jones, then an unofficial assistant coach for the Lakers, urged the gamblers to bet on the Bucks.
The indictment did not identify the player, but LeBron James, the Lakers star, did not play in that game because an ankle injury. He has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Mr. Jones and Mr. James had played together in Cleveland before Mr. James joined the Lakers.
Gambling on sports is legal now, so what is the crime?
Online sports gambling has been legal in most states, including New York and New Jersey, for several years. But all legal sports gambling is predicated on the assumption that the participants in the event are trying to win and that the bettors have access to the same information. The defendants are charged with using inside, nonpublic information to gain an unfair advantage.
Was this old fashioned point shaving?
Not even close. Years ago, when most betting was illegal, bookmakers usually offered only two kinds of bets: bets on the outcome, usually involving a point spread, or on the total points scored by both teams, known as the over/under.
In a point shaving scheme, corrupt players could hold down the score to influence those bets.
But today, through sophisticated online betting apps, gamblers can also make so-called proposition bets, or “prop bets,” on a variety of events within the game. One can place bets on the number of minutes someone might play, how many rebounds a player might get, whether a quarterback will throw a certain number of touchdown passes, or whether a batter will get a certain number of hits. Point spreads and over/under bets can also now be broken down into halves and quarters of the game, and people can place bets during the game.
Mr. Rozier was charged with taking actions that determined the outcome of a wager on his performance. While playing with the Charlotte Hornets, he came out of a game in the first quarter, after telling co-conspirators to bet that he would not reach a certain threshold of statistical measures, like rebounds or assists, prosecutors said.
To influence the outcome of proposition bets on their performance, players could be enticed to manipulate events by taking more shots, taking fewer shots, or turning the ball over, all without necessarily affecting the final outcome of the game.
Adam Silver, the commissioner of the N.B.A., recently called on gambling sites to limit the scope of these “prop bets,” especially for the lower-paid players, who might be more tempted to engage in such activities.
How was the Mafia involved?
According to the indictment, members of four of New York’s long-established crime families — the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese groups — ran high-stakes, illegal poker games in Manhattan.
The court papers said that Mr. Billups and Mr. Jones were so-called “face cards,” or celebrity sports figures, used to entice rich victims to the rigged games, where the victims were cheated out of millions. One unnamed victim lost $1.8 million, the indictment said. The celebrity “face cards” were said to be on the “cheating team” and were paid for their participation, it said.
David Waldstein is a Times reporter who writes about the New York region, with an emphasis on sports.
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