NBA staffers were in Washington, D.C. today to meet with lawyers and aides for the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee in a discussion about the recent gambling scandals connected to the league, writes Joe Vardon for The Athletic.
The NBA representatives, including league lawyers and a gambling consultant, spent less than an hour answering questions about the charges facing Heat guard Terry Rozier, Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, and former player and coach Damon Jones, among others, Vardon reports, though he adds that requests for additional documents are likely to follow.
The topics in question were the actions the league intends to take to curb bad actors from being able to act on non-public information for their own gain, what the NBA’s Code of Conduct does and doesn’t restrict in terms of such disclosures and acting upon information not yet public, and whether the recent troubles have caused the NBA to reconsider any of its profitable partnerships with gambling companies.
Vardon writes that a separate bipartisan Senate committee has asked for a briefing in writing that covers many of the same topics, while also questioning why Rozier was cleared by the league when the federal investigation was still ongoing and, in fact, resulted in Rozier facing criminal charges.
For what it’s worth, a source in the league office recently told Pablo Torre that while the NBA didn’t find any wrongdoing when it looked into Rozier, it also never formally closed that investigation.
“This is a matter of Congressional concern. The integrity of NBA games must be trustworthy and free from the influence of organized crime or gambling-related activity,” wrote Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell in a statement. “Sports betting scandals like this one may lead the American public to assume that all sports are corrupt. As Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over professional sports, and as dedicated basketball fans, we want to ensure the NBA is protecting the integrity of the sport.”
Vardon notes that the House committee also previously sent a letter to the NCAA about the recent announcement that collegiate athletes and coaches could bet on pro sports.
Neither NBA commissioner Adam Silver nor deputy commissioner Mark Tatum were in attendance at today’s meeting, according to Marc Stein of the Stein Line (Twitter link).
‘The recent arrests are the only instances of gambling in the NBA, trust us, we have strict policies in place to look the other way on these things.’
Hey morons at the NBA front office: SEVER ALL TIES WITH FANDUEL. STOP TAKING GAMBLING COMPANY MONEY. ITS ALL FRAUD AND CRIMINAL!!! GAMBLING IS A NET NEGATIVE TO SOCIETY AND HUMANITY!!! ALL CAPS BECAUSE HELL YEAH, I AM YELLING THIS FROM THE MOUNTAINTOP!
I agree the NBA and all sports leagues should not be involved with gambling institutions. There is plenty if corporate money out there. Why cheapen the integrity of the game.
There’s been clowns in the comment section acting like this isn’t a big deal on this website but the overwhelming response other places has been that this scandal really damages the reputation of the league. The timing coinciding with the cap circumventing by the clippers is especially bad.
That said I find it rich that congress and the executive branch can’t even reach a deal to fund the govt, funny enough coinciding with a vote on releasing the Epstein files, but they can have meetings on sports.
These types of discussions should have happened before they opened the gambling floodgates.
I think it’s fine for NBA to be profiting off gambling. But they didn’t do nearly enough preparations before doing so. How is there not even explicit rules governing the information sharing? No gambling charter, no personal income reporting requirements, literally nothing.
The only thing they looked at was the potential amount of money they’d make.
100% this, and they should have involved all the major sports. Waiting until the inevitable happened shows how little both the NBA and Congress cared about acting on this issue.
Per usual, the only goal here is performative fluff. They will do as little as possible until forced to do otherwise.
You’re not a true sports fan if you need gambling/fantasy leagues to follow the sport(s) – plain and simple. Too bad there can’t be monetary incentives for reading books.
100% agreed. Go play cards if you want to gamble. Gambling is the opposite of “the love of the game” gambling is the love of the lame imo
Silver failing to attend speaks volumes about his position on the issue.
Smh
Congress should follow the lead of their predecessors of a century ago, and advise the league that they can get rid of them if the association and its members create a special position, the holder of which would have the singular charge of protecting the integrity of the sport, and that individual would be granted special unilateral powers over not only the affairs of the association, but also those of its members, in fulfilling that charge. The title of “Commissioner” was appropriate then, and remains so. Whatever job Silver now has would have to be renamed.