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Dan Wetzel
Nearly every sports league, team, and operation (including, ahem, media outlets) wants to bet on the revenue they generate from betting on games. Sponsorship. Partnership. advertising. After all, it’s legal.
Maybe it’s a direct payment. Maybe it’s the advertising dollars gained from increased viewership that comes through bigger and bigger broadcast deals. Whatever the source, sports are awash with gambling cash.
However, nothing comes for free, and on Thursday the NBA was due to bill.
Every other league can only watch and know that if there was ever a sure bet, this won’t be the last time a parade of FBI and Justice Department officials hold a press conference to detail indictments over unethical behavior involving sports betting.
More than 30 people were arrested, including big names like Mr. Big Shot – Hall of Fame player and current Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups. Meanwhile, authorities continued to cite the juicy involvement of La Cosa Nostra and New York crime families, including the Gambinos and Genovese.
Like a “Hollywood movie,” said Ricky Patel of Homeland Securities Investigations.
Try the veal, it’s the best in town.
Gambling scandals in sports are nothing new – from the Black Sox to Tim Donaghy. However, the proliferation of legalized sports betting, putting betting in everyone’s faces, if not on their phones, almost certainly makes sports more vulnerable.
The indictments included fascinating high-tech descriptions of underground poker games with X-ray card readers to help organized crime crack down. And there were the alleged actions of former player and assistant coach Damon Jones, who federal authorities say told others about injuries the public was not yet aware of.
An example: A certain unnamed Los Angeles Lakers star will sit out the February 9, 2023 game against Milwaukee.
“Bet big on Milwaukee tonight before the info comes out! [Player 3] out tonight,” the indictment alleges Jones texted a co-conspirator. “Bet enough so Jones can eat [sic] Now!!!”
Taking one that sat out that night to soothe a sore left ankle? Lebron James. A source close to James told ESPN on Thursday that the star had no knowledge of his condition being leaked. The Bucks won by nine, covering the -7.5 spread. Presumably Dejans ate it.
FBI Director Kash Patel said, “This is an NBA insider trading scandal.”
it is. And it’s fair for fans to wonder what exactly they’re watching. The prosecution mostly relies on players deliberately taking themselves out of the game when injured to ensure they are hit less on personal prop bets, but this still corrupts the competition.
The proliferation of legal sports betting allows criminal elements to place many small bets based on information (and hopefully not arouse suspicion) and withdraw cash.
The fact that players and coaches on multimillion-dollar contracts can be vulnerable – Rozier was playing on a four-year, $96.2 million contract – raises concerns. Good luck with college sports, where the NCAA is investigating 13 men’s basketball players at six schools in a betting scheme.
Now on Wednesday, the NCAA allowed all of its athletes to legally bet on professional sports.
Hey, what harm can happen from this?
Betting on sports can be a boon to the bottom line, but it also comes with increased skepticism around everything. This, quite unfairly, includes athletes who simply perform poorly or get injured and thus cost the bookmakers some money. Online harassment is off the charts.
As far as Billups’ appearance is concerned, he is the shining star that attracts attention. An indictment refers to a defendant as “Co-conspirator 8” who allegedly told a bookmaker that the Trail Blazers would tank and that several of their best players would not play in a game against the Chicago Bulls on March 24, 2023.
Co-conspirator 8 is not named in the indictment, but details of his sports and coaching career match those of Billups.
In another indictment, Billups is accused of playing an illegal poker game set up by New York organized crime. He was a famous “face card” used to attract an unwitting Patty who came to the game with an X-ray table that could read the card face down and cameras on poker chip trays that could do the same.
The information will be sent to a remote location, then relayed back to the “quarterback” in the game who will then signal to others involved as to which hand is most likely to win. “Fish” as he was known, never got the chance. One person lost $1.8 million, the feds said.
It would be interesting to find out how and why someone of Billups’ stature and financial security ($100 million in player earnings) would get involved. Still, the Trail Blazers were clearly going to tank regardless. And the fact that an illegal poker game in New York or Miami could be less than prestigious does not seem to be a big surprise (caveat emptor), let alone a danger to the general public.
So as bad as it is, it could have been worse.
Still the matter remains the same. Unless every athlete and coach and official and trainer, etc., heeds the FBI’s warnings to stay away from this thing, the next scam is surely coming. Not only can it get worse, there is a good chance it will.
Legitimate sports betting is definitely good money.
It just doesn’t come cheap.
