NBA gambling rings busted with stars among 34 arrested over ‘betting scandals & Mafia poker schemes rigged with X-rays’

MULTIPLE star NBA players and a head coach have been arrested as part of a massive gambling and sports betting sting that prosecutors say extends deep into the American-Italian Mafia.

Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, and former assistant coach Damon Jones were among the dozens of people accused of using X-rays to read poker cards and passing along insider secrets to NBA bettors online.

Speaking with reporters on Thursday, FBI Director Kash Patel described the alleged fraud as “mind-boggling,” as he revealed tens of millions of dollars were involved.

“This is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years,” he said.  “We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multi-year investigation.”

Over 30 people have been arrested so far, and more are expected to surrender, US Attorney’s Office spokesperson John Marzulli said.

The NBA said that Rozier and Billups are being placed on immediate leave from their teams as they review the indictments.  “We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments announced today,” the association said.  “We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”

Former San Antonio Spurs player Tiago Splitter, who joined the Blazers’ coaching staff this summer, will serve as the acting head coach for Portland.

‘MAFIA-BACKED’ POKER GAME
Prosecutors explained that the two major cases are separate but related.  In the first case, 31 defendants, including Billings, are accused of rigging illegal poker games in the New York area by using X-ray technology to read cards and bugging shuffling machines.

The underground games were backed by Mafia members and associates from the Bonano, Gambino, Lucchese, and Genovese crime families, federal authorities said.

Targeted victims known as “fish” were lured into the scheme over the chance to play with former professional athletes like Billings who were known as “face cards,” US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said.

Once the crew sat down to play together, the games were rigged with sophisticated tech like special sunglasses and hidden cameras in poker chip trays.

In April 2019, Billings was winning so many games that he was told to start losing on purpose to dodge suspicion, prosecutors allege, citing text messages between defendants.

In October 2020, the NBA star was allegedly wired $50,000 for participating in another match.

‘INSIDER BETTING CONSPIRACY’
In the second case, six defendants, including Rozier, are accused of participating in an insider sports betting conspiracy that exploited confidential information about NBA athletes and teams.

Players allegedly passed along secrets to co-conspirators who then shared the information with bettors, or altered their performance so gamblers could hit big.

Rozier allegedly passed on insider information and faked injuries to ensure bets, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

In March 2023, in a game against the New Orleans Pelicans, Roizer, who was a member of the Charlotte Hornets then, told people he was planning on leaving a game early with a “supposed injury,” Tisch said in the conference.

He went on to leave nine minutes into the game as a co-defendant and others allegedly placed $200,000 in wagers that he would underperform.

Rozier was investigated over the incident, but his attorney said it was found no rules were broken.  US Attorney Nocella Jr. described the alleged operation as “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States.”

In a statement, Rozier’s attorney Jim Trusty claimed that he and his client reached out to prosecutors “a long time ago,” asking for an open line of communication.  “They characterized Terry as a subject, not a target, but at 6 a.m. this morning they called to tell me FBI agents were trying to arrest him in a hotel,” he said.

“It is unfortunate that instead of allowing him to self surrender, they opted for a photo op.  “They wanted the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk. That tells you a lot about the motivations in this case.”

The NBA had also previously dismissed its investigation into Rozier, finding no violation of its rules after looking into unusual betting activity in March 2023.

NBA STARS CUFFED
Billups was arrested in Oregon on Thursday, and he’s expected in court later in the day.  He just coached the Trail Blazers in their season opener on Wednesday night when they lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The basketball star is an NBA Champion, Finals MVP, and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer.  Rozier was also arrested on Thursday morning at a hotel in Orlando, Florida.

He has played with the NBA since 2015 when he was selected as the 16th overall pick by the Boston Celtics.  Alongside him, former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Jones was arrested and accused of taking part in both schemes.

The raft of arrests came after NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke on Tuesday about the limited kinds of bets that can be placed on basketball.  “We’ve asked some of our partners to pull back some of the prop bets, especially when they’re on two-way players, guys who don’t have the same stake in the competition, where it’s too easy to manipulate something, which seems otherwise small and inconsequential to the overall score,” Silver told Pat McAfee.

“We’re trying to put in place — learning as we go and working with the betting companies — some additional control to prevent some of that manipulation.”