In the aftermath of the FBI’s arrests of Heat guard Terry Rozier, Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former player Damon Jones last week, the NBA informed its teams that the league has begun a process of reviewing policies regarding injury reporting, training and education of all personnel, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (Twitter link). The memo also specifically addresses concerns regarding gambling, with the league exploring ways to enhance internal and external monitoring programs to identify suspicious betting activity.
Injury reporting has jumped into the spotlight in light of the allegations against Billups and Jones. While the most serious allegations against Billups regard his involvement in rigged poker games, Billups was also accused of providing inside information that could potentially be used by others for betting purposes. According to the indictment, an unnamed co-conspirator (Billups) told Eric Earnest, another of the defendants, that the Trail Blazers were going into tank mode ahead of a game on March 24, 2023 and that a certain player, purportedly star guard Damian Lillard, would sit out.
Along similar lines, Jones allegedly informed an unnamed co-conspirator prior to the Lakers‘ game vs. Milwaukee on February 9, 2023 that a specific Laker would miss the game and that the co-conspirator should bet on the Bucks. That player was later identified as LeBron James. James reportedly wasn’t aware that Jones was sharing information about his playing status.
NBA teams typically provide injury reports the day prior to a game but there is a gap in time during game days before the final injury report prior to tip-off is revealed.
The memo also specifically addressed Rozier’s situation. Rozier was accused of essentially taking himself out of a game due to injury so that prop bets on “unders” could be cashed.
The memo obtained by Charania (Twitter link) stated, “While the unusual betting on Terry Rozier’s ‘unders’ in the March 2023 game was detected in real time because the bets were placed legally, we believe there is more that can be done from a legal/regulatory perspective to protect the integrity of the NBA and our affiliated leagues. In particular, proposition bets on individual player performance involve heightened integrity concerns and require additional scrutiny.”
Prior to the FBI’s arrests, Rozier had been cleared by the league during its investigation and was in uniform for Miami’s opener, though he did not play. Commissioner Adam Silver stated last week the FBI had broader powers to conduct a more thorough investigation. Silver had also expressed growing concerns with regard to prop bets.
Charania shared the entire league memo on social media (Twitter link).
How about “NBA to sever all ties with all gambling companies”? No? Hm, why?
No NBA player or team employee. Or NBA employees. Should be allowed to bet on NBA during season. Means no betting during SL. Bet on other sports. We all know they will use family and friends to bet. So you have to have real consequences when caught. If you are just betting. Then you can be given another chance. Three strikes and you are banned for life. If you are selling info or giving away info. You should be banned for life. Get control of your property and businesses. Don’t let degenerate gamblers and sell outs ruin this game. Real consequences. Start banning people now.
Are you saying to give them 3 strikes if they bet on basketball? If so I strongly disagree. Caught once and you’re gone for life.
Computers and algorithms can expose it with in mins.
Just cancel prop bets. That kills the game anyways. Players know they’re over under and don’t want to screw over fans, but also do things that hit certain targets that are not within the flow of the game. I just think it’s too much. Only bets on team out comes.
They def need to eliminate the individual unders … overs, I don’t worry as much.
Also, it’s somewhat amazing that the books can identify funky betting trends pretty immediately.
Its because in order to make the scam worth it, especially to a NBA player that doesnt care about like 10k, you need to bet huge sums. When all of a sudden 15x the normal amount of bets Rozier receives start hitting the books its a red flag. Then when you see they are all unders, and he pulls himself in the 1st its not a hard thing for books to ID.
You cant make it worth the effort for small bets, and big bets are rare enough that you can flag them. They also can tell if its someone who bets with them a lot, and makes all sorts of weird bets, or someone new that just walks in with stacks of cash making bets that make no sense unless you know something.
I do think its an inditement on the NBA players that they thought they could get away with something so basic as pulling out of games like Porter/Rozier. Like they could have known the lines on different stats, and just made sure to not hit them, but played it out. It would still look sus but it wouldnt be as basic as pulling yourself from the game less than 10min in.
Nobody takes your word serious anymore Adam and that’s a huge problem
You’ve already shown your love is for money, the integrity of the game or getting kids hooked on gambling be damned
Shameful
Between this and the Clips thing I wonder if he is getting fired before long. He is now the face of some pretty bad oversight by the league where they look like rubes for not catching this stuff sooner. They investigate both Kawhi/Rozier, clear both, and then look either complicit or incompetent.
Doubtful , he prints money for the big boys and coddles the smaller markets when they need a hug. I’m with it tho
I think this falls into one of those somebody has to get fired situations.
There’s a saying in the restaurant business-
when a restaurant goes under it was because the dishwashers couldn’t wash the dishes fast enough
Creepy uncle Dennis will probably be our “ dishwasher “
Use promo code INCAHOOTS or JAILTIME for 30% off your first bet over $100 today
This league wide memo brought to you by Draft Kings
The horse is already out of the barn! This online betting is the scourge of our time!!