9:38 am: According to law enforcement officials, 31 people have been taken into custody in connection to a scheme to rig illegal poker games that were backed by several New York crime families, per NBC News.
Prosecutors allege that recognizable figures like Billups were used to lure in victims who weren’t aware that everyone else involved in the games was in on the scam.
“Once the game was underway, the defendants fleeced the victims out of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game,” said Nocella, who went on to explain that technology like hidden cameras, special contact lenses and eyeglasses, and an X-ray table that could read cards placed face down was used as part of the scheme.
8:10 am: Billups’ arrest is related to an illegal poker operation tied to the mafia, according to Aaron Katersky of ABC News, who reports that the case is separate from – but related to – the illegal gambling case for which Rozier was arrested.
7:34 am: Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups has been arrested in connection with the federal investigation into illegal gambling, report Tom Winter and Jonathan Dienst of NBC News (Twitter link). He’ll appear in federal court in Oregon later today, tweets Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
While we’ve known for nearly nine months that Terry Rozier – who was also arrested on Thursday morning – was being investigated as part of a probe into illegal gambling, Billups’ connection to the case is new.
It’s unclear at this point what the federal investigation uncovered that led to the arrest of the Hall of Famer, but according to Winter and Dienst, it’s not related to bets made on games that Billups coached.
Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, will be joined by officials from the FBI, Homeland Security, and New York City police for a press conference on Thursday at approximately 10:00 am Eastern time to announce the latest developments in the investigation.
Billups was on the sidelines for the Trail Blazers’ season opener less than 12 hours ago. It’s safe to assume one of his assistants will serve as Portland’s head coach when the team faces Golden State on Friday night, with Nate Bjorkgren likely the favorite. Bjorkgren briefly served as the Blazers’ acting head coach last winter when Billups missed time for family reasons.
Billups has coached the Blazers since being hired by the team in June of 2021. He signed an extension with Portland in the spring and is under contract until 2028.
Besides Rozier and Billups, former Pistons sharpshooter Malik Beasley was also being investigated due to alleged illegal betting. According to investigative reporter and podcaster Pablo Torre (Twitter link), Beasley’s fate hinges on today’s announcement. He was previously investigated by the NBA and cleared after the league learned he made “a bet or two on another sport,” per Torre.
Uh oh
What a loser Billups is if this is true…
Hijacking to point out that was quite the whiplash. Rigging NBA games? No just a mob run poker game. Okay. More normal I guess. Billups was the bait to dupe people with a xray poker table?! That’s not normal. Controversy is back on the table boys!
And. Here. We. Go.
I bet on games nightly, the games are rigged. In the sense that there a slight invariances on a nightly basis. Dumb fouls etc.
This is just the beginning.
Why would you bet on a rigged game?
El Chapo is the mastermind behind it all
Haha,
Same as the guys who post on here about how the league decides who wins the championship. If you think that, why the F do you watch hoops?
I don’t think it’s rigged to that level can’t keep the lid on that. But there are weird prop bets that when there’s massive money on one side specifically overs, then often there are fouls on them which limits time on the floor. When there is massive money on the over you’ll see similar things.
And if your wondering why I bet on the nba. I pick my spots, I make sure the books are receiving even money on the prop or total. I specifically look for plus ev moneyline and unders. Which negates the aforementioned concerns.
Oh, I’m not wondering. I bet on the NBA too.
Because if you bet on the right side of the rigging you still win. Realistically, why wouldn’t you?
@el_chapo dumb fouls and sudden sloppy play around certain common betting lines are HUGE tells. “Late game shenanigans” often are to get the scoreboard fixed up so certain betting lines win.
Hopefully, he’s just betting on football. This gets into Hoops and wow what a can of worms.
This is huge – I wouldn’t think they’d arrest a head coach for betting on football – or would they?
Well he could certainly be part of an illegal gambling ring unrelated to basketball. Like how Gilbert Arenas was in trouble for holding unregulated high end gambling/poker parties.
Not saying that’s the case here, just that there is the possibility that it’s not NBA. Maybe not a likely possibility though lol. We’ll all stay tuned for more info
ABC News is saying it was poker.
ABC News owns a sports betting platform and would rather the attention of corruption pinned to poker as opposed to sports betting
Illegal betting is illegal it doesn’t matter what sport or type of betting.
Thanks for defining illegal for us, but the implication is that with poker the “integrity of the sport” wouldn’t be in question and punishment from the NBA is likely different for those betting on the league
I was responding to “I wouldn’t think they’d arrest a head coach for betting on football – or would they?”
But you’re so very welcome.
Yes, it seems like it’s so much more than what I suggested earlier… perhaps just betting on football in a state that doesn’t allow sports betting or something minor like that.
It’s coming out now that this is rigged poker games with a celebrity at the table.
I guess they’re only targeting wealthy guys. This isn’t paycheck to paycheck types losing thousands so it’s probably the reason why it was under wraps for so long.
Who wouldn’t mind losing five or 10 grand if you’re a wealthy guy. You’re at a table with Chauncey Phillips, drinking playing poker, etc. just consider it a charitable event and you’re buying a seat at a table lol.
But I guess they had cameras so they could see the guy’s poker hands and all that stuff.
Looks like a real complicated ring of crime from what I’m hearing.
Pinned it down with your usual aplomb. I’ll settle for loaded dice with the Mississippi guys I shot craps with in the Army all those years back. They owe me!
I hate this… and I fear it won’t ever stop now. Once the floodgates are opened, it’s near impossible to quell them. There was a reason why professional sports were en masse so anti-gambling for so long – the integrity of the sport. There’s also a reason why professional sports now embrace gambling so tightly – the money is now more important than the integrity.
In the long run, as always, the real losers are the fans. Refs are human and make mistakes, but I never used to wonder if an obvious error meant that somebody somewhere had a bet placed. Players, even superstars, make errors… but I never before had to wonder if there was a reason why such an uncharacteristic mistake or decision was made.
Enjoy the riches, professional sports. Oh, and get ready for plenty more incidents like this one in the future.
Remember the NBA has already had their fair share of scandals one being the ref found to be throwing games he officiated in back a few years ago, players being investigated by the league itself but found no wrongdoing and teams doing under the table stuff that the league had to look in to. NBA has had a lot of questionable actions it had to look into. does this really surprise anyone anymore, not I.
Connecting the 2 arrests, it would seem that Billups has been linked to the winning under bets on Rozier in the game that Rozier pulled himself out of.
Silver is in a tough spot as far as the NBA – brought to you by gambling – in all the commercials during games goes.
Silver should be arrested too.
Yeah it’s crazy they let that vampire walk the streets freely.
He’s an alien, not a vampire.
Idk man he looks lik a vampire to me haha
You’re just making things up.
The irony of how some teams can only be viewed via Fan Dual – a sports betting company. Did the NBA and Silver think that sleeping in bed with sports betting wasn’t going to creep into their very fabric of an organization?
Exactly correct. Silver and anyone who pushed this should be arrested over this. Fan Duel CEO should be arrested too.
I dont think this case in particular is related to the nba partnering up with these betting companies, I think this more about Billups.
But I dont agree on those partnerships as well, really scketchy
So basically the reason we didn’t let it happen to begin with is now increasing in frequency and severity. Wasn’t this Adam Silver’s pet project? Isn’t this the reason they have so much revenue they literally don’t care about watchability or the fan really at all?
I couldn’t have been more wrong…and still it’s not better either.
“Billups’ arrest in Oregon was made as part of a separate but related illegal gambling case linked to an illegal poker operation tied to the Mafia, according to an ABC News report. Billups is expected to make an initial court appearance later Thursday.” – ABC News
Would explain a LOT of these “load management” games from a lot of these athletes aka Kawhi. Scary thing is, I don’t think it’s just NBA, possibly could affect sports betting entirely.
You are correct. Gambling has ZERO place in pro sports AND NEVER HAS.
First time we agree on something Davey. I never understood the urge to gamble while being a professional athlete making MILLIONS on/off the field or court. Greed is a sin.
I’m shocked. Players openly have talked about gambling on plane rides. So ya super shocked.
Wow, the mob are still involved in the NBA? I thought MJ’s follies sent them all packing.
Also: the mob still exists in 2025? lol wow. The Sopranos did so much harm to society in making that crud look cool.
Organized crime will always be a thing man
Looks like a NBA team in Vegas just became a longshot…
Or with modern thinking, more of a guarantee…
“illegal poker operation tied to the mafia”.
How boring my life is compared to others…
PG. Henderson, veteran sign, TW Love Injured D. Lillard
SG. Sharpe, veteran sign, Rupert
SF. Avdija, Thybulle, Murray, TW Cissoko/SF prospect
PF. Camara, R Williams, Love, TW PF prospect
C . Clingan, Hansen, Reath
Traded Holiday and Grant and a pick
Get Rozier, Nurkic, Niang and Love
Waive Rozier, Nurkic, Niang and Wesley. Maybe move Murray to PF if you get Bates and waive R Williams
Banton, Butler, Dinwiddie, Elfrid Payton, Dennis Smith are all PG’s who can be a backup. Butler is hot right now
Josh Richardson or Alec Burks can play backup SG veteran. sign Bates to be the SF prospect and sign Tyler Smith to be the PF prospect
Fire Billups and hire a good coach
Receive picks from Miami too*
Allow betting on games what could go wrong with NBA working with gambling companies.
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This was definitely a surprise considering the reports surrounding Rozier previously were indicating that he hadn’t done anything wrong.
The NBA had cleared him in teir “investigation”, but apparently the FBI had a different agenda.
Between all the gambling scandals and the whole Clippers fiasco the league is quickly losing legitimacy
You mean the NBA might be rigged? Gasp. (How many refs are going to end up part of all this, one wonders?)
Honestly, I am happy. I dont like Billups lol
we live in a world of pure hypocrisy
When American’s alone spend 100’s of billions of dollars on legal and illegal sports books, something like this was going to happen. When you have ESPN having segments involving sports books on their shows as they show they’re message for what problems a person might have in gambling, so they won’t get sued is just part of the iceberg of gambling. Next you will have the college’s being involved with the underworld of gambling just like it has been with the pro’s. Which has become a FBI issue into illegal gaming, it’s not going to stop, only get more involved by the players on the field and the players that are gambling on their play and not getting caught betting on the games. It’s just the beginning.
We are at or really close to the point we need an official congressional investigation into all this like we had with steroids in baseball. These leagues refuse to govern themselves.
Frank Sinatra Jr was at that poker game on the Sopranos, but Davey just played because of the sickness .
Must be a gambling addiction and ignorance, these guys are millionaires, no reason whatsoever to get involved in something like this for money; the problem is that money doesn’t bring intelligence and these athletes (in any sport) when they become rich they never change their mind and they keep thinking and doing things like when they were poor.
Damn bruh…
I am absolutely gutted by this. Just crossing my fingers that there isn’t a facet of this particular investigation that involves sports betting. The 2004 title over the Lakers is one of the greatest underdog stories of my lifetime, and I’d hate to see anything create an asterisk because of this
That ring should be safe. The Billups part here looks like using his celebrity to “sell” seats at a table because the wealthy attendees seem to always lose the poker games lol.