Why the NBA Betting Scandal Was Inevitable—and What Comes Next

The NBA betting scandal that has engulfed Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier is only the beginning. Former federal prosecutors and legal experts warn that in-game betting and player access to inside information make basketball uniquely vulnerable to manipulation.

The Oct. 23 press briefing announcing two indictments and 34 total arrests—among them Billups, Rozier, and former NBA player and coach Damon Jones—has cast a shadow over the start of the NBA season. The story has snowballed. Well-known sports media figures like Stephen A. Smith and Rachel Nichols wondered whether there’s a political motive; sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings defended legalized sports betting; and members of Congress want to hear from NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

The scandal involves two separate but related federal investigations. One case targets insider sports betting—players and coaches providing non‑public game or injury information to bettors—and is the same probe that led to Jontay Porter’s lifetime ban from the NBA last year. The other focuses on a high‑stakes poker ring rigged by major New York crime families. 

Some defendants, such as Jones, appear in both cases, suggesting overlap between the poker ring and the insider betting operation. Law enforcement alleges the poker ring has direct ties to New York Mafia families, but the sports betting scandal is the one that truly raises concerns about the integrity of the league. 

Yet experts and former federal prosecutors have been expecting something like this since the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which had effectively prohibited sports betting outside Nevada and a handful of states with sports lotteries.

“I’m not surprised there’s a scandal like this,” Elizabeth McCurrach, a litigator at BakerHostetler who co-leads the law firm’s sports industry team, tells Front Office Sports. “The industry has been ripe for a scandal in this arena since PASPA was overturned.”

Andrew Young, also a former federal prosecutor who now works for law firm Snell & Wilmer, was also unfazed.

“If there was anything surprising about this it was that it happened at the pro level, not collegiate,” he tells FOS. “The economics don’t entirely make sense for pro athletes with $100 million contracts.”

How Basketball Is Especially Susceptible

Basketball, experts note, is especially vulnerable because players and coaches can manipulate the pace, shot selection, and other aspects of the game in ways that affect betting outcomes. 

“We’re in a world where you can instantaneously bet on what’s going to happen on the next play, which is so ripe for this type of abuse,” says Artie McConnell, a former federal prosecutor who now co-leads the national security investigations and litigation task force for BakerHostetler.

In March 2023, Rozier—then a member of the Hornets—is alleged to have informed a childhood friend that he would pretend to be hurt and “prematurely remove himself from the game in the first quarter.” His friend, De’Niro Laster, later sold the information to bettors. Rozier did as he said, finishing with five points and two assists—well below his season averages.

The charges against Rozier, while explosive, were limited in scope. Another former federal prosecutor, who asked to remain anonymous, tells FOS the fact there was only one Rozier game included in the indictment likely reflects where prosecutors have the strongest corroborating evidence.

“You’re never going to get the full scope in the indictment,” the source says. “When you’re talking about a broad conspiracy like this, usually the majority of evidence is not spelled out in the indictment.”

In another instance in the betting indictment, an unnamed co-conspirator told another defendant the Trail Blazers would be losing a March 2023 game on purpose, and shortly before tip-off, it was announced that several of the team’s best players would not suit up (Damian Lillard, Jusuf Nurkić, Jerami Grant, and Anfernee Simons did not play). The Blazers were blown out.

Although Billups was not named in the sports betting indictment, this game strongly suggests his involvement. The co-conspirator is described as an “NBA player from approximately 1997 through 2014, and an NBA coach since at least 2021.” Billups was drafted third overall in 1997 by the Celtics, and he played his final game in 2014. He was hired as the Blazers coach in 2021.

It’s not clear why Billups was named in the poker indictment but not the sports betting indictment. Regardless, based on the charges brought, McCurrach of BakerHostetler feels that his and Rozier’s days as part of the NBA are over.

“I don’t think they have any chance of staying in the league,” she tells FOS. “I think they will be banned for life, both of them.”

Through attorneys, Rozier and Billups have both denied the charges, and Billups just hired high-powered lawyer Marc Mukasey, who has previously represented President Donald Trump, a former Navy SEAL who was acquitted on murder charges in 2019, and imprisoned FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

Their attorneys would be wise to tell Rozier and Billups to start talking, experts say. The possibility of obtaining additional information on others involved in the schemes is part of why prosecutors made the arrests when they did, and made such a show of the situation.

“When you arrest all these people, you start shaking the tree to see what comes out,” Young tells FOS. “If any of these people flip, with names come phones, and with phones come text messages.”

‘Almost Impossible to Detect’

Even if the government nails more people involved in this scheme, and despite the fact that the NBA and major sportsbooks are reportedly reviewing the most vulnerable types of bets, it’s a tall order to prevent similar issues as long as sports betting continues to proliferate—especially in basketball.

One former federal prosecutor, who asked to remain anonymous, tells FOS that if those involved in betting schemes like this were more disciplined—including limiting the number of people who are in on it and not communicating about the plans using phones or other technology—“it would be almost impossible to detect.”

“There’s no absolute rule on how to prevent it,” the former prosecutor says. “More important is identifying the reasons why people do this, and trying to eliminate those reasons. Whether it’s greed, they are compromised, or what.”

The indictments may have exposed only a fraction of what’s happening behind the scenes. 

“This is going to continue to happen at all levels for the foreseeable future,” says Young.