What an FBI Probe Into Illegal Betting Means for the NBA

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Alex Ossola (0:18)

Federal prosecutors charge more than 30 people, including a current NBA coach and player, as part of an investigation into illegal gambling.

Jared Diamond (0:27)

This is a complete disaster for the NBA. Really one of the biggest gambling scandals in the history of American sports. There's really no other way to put it.

Alex Ossola (0:37)

Plus President Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. And is it 2021 because meme stocks are back? It's Thursday, October 23rd. I'm Alex Ossola for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were each arrested this morning in connection with a sweeping investigation into illegal gambling and rigging games in the NBA. That's according to several people familiar with the matter. Speaking at a press conference today, FBI Director Cash Patel offered some details about the alleged crime ring.

SPEAKER_4 (1:23)

The fraud is mind-boggling. It's not hundreds of dollars. It's not thousands of dollars. It's not tens of thousands of dollars. It's not even millions of dollars. We're talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multi-year investigation.

Alex Ossola (1:40)

This isn't the first time a gambling scandal has affected the NBA, but Billups is by far the most prominent figure to be swept up in the federal investigation. WSJ Sports reporter Jared Diamond is here to tell us more. Jared, what do we know about this probe?

Jared Diamond (1:55)

Well, there are essentially two different gambling-related schemes, allegedly operating concurrently, both involving NBA players. The first one, pretty simple sports betting, match fixing type of probe where there's NBA players and others connected to the NBA, allegedly feeding inside information for the purpose of gambling. So essentially, Terry Rozier, he was playing in a game. He allegedly knew that he planned to remove himself from that game with an injury.

That information was allegedly passed along to some gamblers who used it to bet a lot of money on Terry Rozier not meeting certain statistical benchmarks and made money off of it. And this was happening allegedly around the NBA. The other case is something brand new. This involves a large ring of underground illegal poker games where the games were rigged using x-ray tables, marked cards where you could only see them with contact lenses, rigged shuffling machines. And these games were set up to allegedly steal money from people. But what these people who organized these games did is they were able somehow in ways that we haven't quite figured out yet, recruit big name people, NBA players, to lure in other victims to essentially giving their money up in these rigged poker games. We also know that the mafia was involved with these poker games. The fact that NBA players have gotten involved with this allegedly just adds more intrigue. Honestly, something straight out of a movie.

Alex Ossola (3:45)

Given what you just said, is this a bad look for the NBA?

Jared Diamond (3:48)

This is a complete disaster for the NBA. Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, has been known for years as the first and the loudest pro-gambling commissioner in American sports. He was the first one of all the leads to come out in favor of legalizing sports gambling. It is now that commissioner who is facing really one of the biggest gambling scandals in the history of American sports. There's really no other way to put it.

Alex Ossola (4:20)

The ways and platforms for people to gamble legally in the US have really proliferated in recent years. Did that play a role in the alleged crimes here?

Jared Diamond (4:29)

These poker games that we're talking about, for underground poker games at home, they were not done at tables in Las Vegas. But the Terry Rozier matter, the Betsy question, were all placed legally, all placed in regulated sports books in the United States, the fan duels and draft kings of the world and others. The reality is there's no question that the rise of legal gambling has created an environment that lends itself to more gambling scandals.

Alex Ossola (4:58)

That was Wall Street Journal sports reporter Jared Diamond. Thank you, Jared.

Jared Diamond (5:02)

You got it.

Alex Ossola (5:03)

In a statement, the NBA said that Billups and Rozier had been placed on immediately from their teams. The Portland Trail Blazers, which Billups coaches, didn't immediately respond to inquiries. Rozier's lawyer said that his client is not a gambler, but is, quote, not afraid of a fight.