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Members of Congress sent a four-page letter Friday to NBA commissioner Adam Silver requesting a briefing on “sports fixing and illegal gambling.”
The letter came one day after the arrests of Heat guard Terry Rozier, Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, and former NBA player and coach Damon Jones in two separate gambling-related federal investigations.
The bipartisan letter, signed by six members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said the allegations “raise serious concerns about sports betting and the integrity of sport in the NBA, which harms fans and legal sports bettors.”
The committee is asking for a briefing from Silver by “no later than Oct. 31.”
The letter mentions that sports betting based on insider information “is not a new problem” in the NBA, citing the infamous 2007 Tim Donaghy scandal and last year’s case against former player Jontay Porter.
It also mentions how the briefing will discuss any “gaps” in existing regulations, referencing Silver’s appearance Tuesday on The Pat McAfee Show where he said that there “should be more regulation” on sports betting.
The NBA and the chairman of the committee, Kentucky Republican Brett Guthrie, did immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Friday night, Silver did his first public interview since the arrests during the Prime Video broadcast of the game between Celtics and Knicks at Madison Square Garden. He said he was “deeply disturbed” by the arrests.
“My initial reaction was I was deeply disturbed,” Silver said. “There’s nothing more important to the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition. And so, I had a pit in my stomach and it was very upsetting.”
He added that the league conducted its own investigation of Rozier in March 2023 after betting companies found “aberrational behavior” on prop bets involving the then-Hornets guard. Silver said the NBA cleared Rozier, who cooperated with their investigation.
“What happened was, because bets were placed through legal betting companies, they picked up aberrational behavior around a particular game in March of ‘23. That was brought to our attention by the betting companies. We then looked at that situation and were very transparent about it. And while there was that aberrational betting, we, frankly, couldn’t find anything. Terry, at the time, cooperated. He gave the league office his phone. He sat down for an interview. And we ultimately concluded that there was insufficient evidence despite that aberrational behavior moving forward,” Silver said.
Following the March 23, 2023 game at the center of the federal investigation, Rozier missed the remainder of the season. He returned to action the following season.
Silver said that the federal government had superior investigative resources but that the league has cooperated.
“The federal government has subpoena power, can put some people in jail, can do all kinds of things that a league office can’t do. So we’ve been working with them since then, and of course, what they announced yesterday was an indictment. So, two and a half years later, he still hasn’t been convicted of anything, in fairness to Terry. Obviously it doesn’t look good. But he’s now been put on administrative leave,” Silver said.
