Odds in Greed’s Favor: The Inevitability of the NBA’s Illegal Gambling Scandal

By Allyson Nelson*                                                                            Posted: 11/24/2025

As the National Basketball Association (“NBA”) recently tipped off its 2025 season, two new players entered the mix of the world’s largest professional basketball league: the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”).[1]  On October 23, 2025, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former NBA player and coach Damon Jones were arrested by federal officials in connection with a widespread illegal gambling scandal.[2]  Indictments charged Billups with conspiracy in enticing gamblers to play in mafia-connected, high-stakes poker games against former NBA players and subsequently cheating those participants of at least $7 million.[3]  Rozier is charged in a separate conspiracy of sharing inside information about NBA players and coaches to gamblers and profiting off the winning bets.[4]  Jones is accused of participating in both schemes, but the extent of his participation is currently unknown.[5]

While the indictments sent shockwaves through the NBA community, they are an inevitable result of the integration of sports betting into professional sports.[6]  After a 2018 Supreme Court decision allowed states to legalize sports betting, sportsbooks are now synonymous with the sports industry.[7]  Because professional sports leagues have greatly embraced the presence of sports betting, the FBI’s recent discovery of an illegal sports betting ring will likely not be the last.[8]  However, calls for increased transparency in the NBA and congressional regulations to sports betting could prevent illegal gambling in professional sports from becoming a larger problem.[9]

Sports Betting: A History of Opposition

The thought of allowing legalized gambling on professional sports was a taboo subject for decades.[10]  Many of the major professional leagues believed that nationwide legalized sportsbooks and bettors would cause irreparable damage on the integrity of sports, viewing large-scale gambling as a substantial risk to fair play.[11]  In 1992, Congress turned this opposition into law with the passage of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (“PASPA”).[12]  PASPA restricted all wagering on professional and collegiate athletics in the United States with limited exceptions, aiming to maintain sports’ integrity and reduce the promotion of state-sponsored sports gambling among the American youth.[13]

The Supreme Court Changes Everything

Despite a long-standing history of opposition, professional sports leagues began to gradually change course on sports betting in the last twenty years.[14]  The NBA was the first major sports league in the United States to endorse legalized sports betting in 2014, when commissioner Adam Silver published an op-ed entitled “Legalize and Regulate Sports Betting” in the New York Times.[15] Many states also supported this change, seeing regulated sports betting as an important business venture with lots of potential revenue at stake.[16]

New Jersey led the charge in challenging PASPA, passing a sports wagering act in 2012 that was ultimately prevented from being enacted due to litigation from the four major North American leagues and the NCAA.[17] New Jersey revised parts of the act and signed it into law in 2014, which was met by renewed litigation from the five leagues.[18]  After losing in the District Court for the District of New Jersey and Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court granted the state’s writ of certiorari to hear the case in 2017.[19]

In a 6-3 game-changing decision, the Supreme Court overturned PASPA in Murphy v. Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n,[20] allowing states to legalize sports betting.[21] The majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, found that PASPA’s provision prohibiting state-sponsored sports gambling violated the anticommandeering doctrine under the Tenth Amendment.[22] States displayed no hesitation in passing legislation to legalize sports betting, with thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia now allowing those within its borders to wager on sports’ biggest moments.[23]

Professional Sports Post-Murphy: Present Efforts to Protect the Future

In the seven years since Murphy overturned PASPA, sports betting has become inseparable from major league professional sports.[24]  Through corporate partnerships, naming rights, advertisements, and media segments, sportsbooks are completely integrated into a fan’s enjoyment of professional sports.[25]  Every major American league has at least one official sports betting partner, with FanDuel and DraftKings serving as the co-partners of the NBA.[26]

With sports betting growing into a multibillion-dollar industry in recent years, a scandal like the one FBI director Kash Patel announced on October 23 was an inevitable result of allowing gambling to occupy such a large place within professional sports.[27] The commonality of sports betting in American society, especially with young men, gives professional sports players and staff huge influence over the odds of a wager’s success.[28]  This notion is further exacerbated by the popularity of proposition bets, or “prop bets,” which constitute wagers not directly tied to a game’s outcome or final score.[29] These focus on an individual or team’s performance in various statistical areas, which could easily be manipulated by a player or coach to make a large profit.[30]

Previous sports betting issues in the NBA also foreshadowed the likelihood of a large-scale illegal gambling operation within the sport.[31]  Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy pled guilty to federal charges for fixing games in 2007, almost ten years before the Supreme Court overturned PASPA.[32]  In 2024, the NBA issued a lifetime ban to former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter for providing confidential information to bettors, limiting his participation in games to influence bet outcomes, and betting on NBA games.[33] In the current scandal, the NBA previously investigated the March 23, 2023 game where Rozier allegedly limited his performance for bettors but did not find that any league rules were violated at the time.[34]

In the wake of the current scandal, all major leagues—not just the NBA—should prioritize transparency in investigating and punishing those accused of participating in illegal gambling schemes.[35]  Alongside detailed investigations, commissioners should use their broad power over their sports to reprimand those who threaten the integrity of fair and equitable sports games, such as Silver’s lifetime ban of Porter in 2024.[36] While authorities in the FBI and DOJ will likely use Billups, Rozier, and Jones as examples to deter future criminal activity, Silver should also impose bans and fines as permitted if the named defendants are convicted on the money laundering and wire fraud charges that they are accused of.[37] Fixing games or performances has widespread effects outside of an individual player or team, which should be deterred on behalf of players, staff, and fans alike.[38]

In addition to league intervention, federal leaders should listen to calls from Silver, congressional members, and fans to consider legislation regulating prop bets on professional sports.[39] Manipulation of prop bets are at the heart of the current scandal, and a reduction or complete elimination of this type of wager could serve as a major deterrent to players and coaches who may be tempted to choose greed over integrity.[40]  While neither legislation nor league intervention will completely eliminate the risk of illegal gambling schemes, being proactive and strong in their responses to the current scandal will set an important tone that the American government and major leagues will not accept this type of behavior in professional sports.[41]

*Staff Writer, Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal, J.D. Candidate, May 2027, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law.

[1] See A Deep Dive into the NBA Sports Betting Scandal, by AP Reporters, Associated Press (Oct. 24, 2025, at 18:27 ET), https://apnews.com/article/sports-betting-billups-rozier-jones-nba-mafia-b7a100666f6ef9b6bde41faac69b9d3b (emphasizing importance of NBA betting scandal in defining storyline of 2025 NBA season due to scandal breaking during first week of play).

[2] See What We Know About the Billups-Rozier NBA Gambling Cases, espn (Oct. 23, 2025, at 22:22 ET), https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46704496/nba-sports-betting-gambling-scandal-rozier-billups-fbi-arrests (reporting federal indictments in Eastern District of New York against Billups, Rozier, Jones, and thirty other defendants for money laundering, wire fraud, and other conspiracy charges).

[3] See id. (detailing allegations of Billups’ role in enticing high-spending gamblers into mafia poker games using NBA status to rig games against spenders, making millions in profits from scheme).

[4] See id. (explaining charges against Rozier for offering insider information on status of player injuries and removing himself from at least one game to profit off others’ bets).  Billups is also alluded to in the indictment as a co-conspirator in this betting scheme.  See id. (acknowledging description of co-conspirator in Rozier indictment matching Billups’ player and coaching history).

[5] See id. (listing Jones as co-conspirator in both schemes covered in indictment without further information on specific involvement).

[6] See Jenny Vrentas, Sports Leagues Feared a Betting Scandal Like This. Will Anything Change?, N.Y. Times (Oct. 24, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/nyregion/nba-sports-betting-gambling-scandal.html (alluding to public and private sentiment from leagues, lawmakers, and fans that legalization of sports betting would encourage illicit behavior in search of mass profit).

[7] See David Purdum, Three-Year Evolution of American Sports Betting: From Taboo to Revenue, espn (May 14, 2021, at 20:20 ET), https://www.espn.com/sports-betting/story/_/id/31423119/3-year-evolution-american-sports-betting-taboo-revenue (tracking mass explosion in business and revenue of sports betting industry after 2018 legalization by Supreme Court).

[8] See Ryan Mancini, Former NBA Referee: Arrests ‘Tip Of The Iceberg’, Hill (Oct. 25, 2025, at 11:55 ET), https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/5571386-nba-betting-scandal-arrests/ (recapping interview with former NBA referee convicted of fixing games predicting that more scandals similar to recent one will arise due to player and coach desires to support their families on profit from assisting in wagering).

[9] See Katie Tarrant, NBA’s Gambling Scandal Renews Congressional Calls to Regulate Sports Betting, Wash. Post (Oct. 25, 2025), https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/24/nba-sports-betting-scandal-congress/ (previewing increased interest in federal regulations for proposition bets in sports betting to disincentivize player and coach interest in illegal gambling).

[10] See Purdum, supra note 7 (recalling history of opposition to sports betting in American major league sports due to fears that fixing games would ruin integrity and entertainment aspects of sporting matches).

[11] See id. (explaining joint league support to prevent sports betting from being discussed or associated with professional sports).

[12] See Jill R. Dorson, What Is PASPA, the Federal Ban on Sports Betting?, Sports Handle (July 1, 2020), https://sportshandle.com/what-is-paspa-sports-betting-ban-professional-amateur-sports/ (listing PASPA date of passage, which would remain good law for twenty-six years).

[13] See id. (describing Congress’ goal of deterring gambling vices and protecting sports’ integrity by passing PASPA).

[14] See What We Know About the Billups-Rozier NBA Gambling Cases, supra note 2 (discussing shift in league opinion about sports betting due to business opportunities).

[15] See Adam Silver, Legalize and Regulate Sports Betting, N.Y. Times (Nov. 13, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/14/opinion/nba-commissioner-adam-silver-legalize-sports-betting.html (supporting sports betting nationwide on behalf of NBA due to fan interest and safe route to regulation of wagering).

[16] See Purdum, supra note 7 (explaining state support for sports betting due to revenue and tax benefits for gambling within state).

[17] See Murphy v. Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n, 584 U.S. 453, 462 (2018) (detailing early New Jersey efforts to enact sports wagering laws that ultimately were unsuccessful due to league intervention).

[18] See id. at 463 (explaining further New Jersey efforts to allow sports wagering despite previous litigation losses).

[19] See id. at 464 (acknowledging Supreme Court’s grant of writ of certiorari to address possible anticommandeering issues within PASPA).

[20] 584 U.S. 453 (2018).

[21] See id. at 477–80 (holding PASPA unconstitutional due to illegal infringement on states’ rights to decide whether sports betting should be legal within individual states).

[22] See id. (detailing infringement on states’ rights in enacting PASPA remedied in opinion).

[23] See A Deep Dive into the NBA Sports Betting Scandal, by AP Reporters, supra note 1 (listing numerous states where Americans over twenty-one can now bet on variety of sports matches).

[24] See Purdum, supra note 7 (noting total integration of sports betting in professional sports viewing experience due to sponsorships and agreements with sportsbooks).

[25] See id. (detailing increased interest in sponsorships with sportsbooks because of revenue generated within sports betting industry).

[26] See What We Know About the Billups-Rozier NBA Gambling Cases, supra note 2 (acknowledging sportsbooks officially partnered with NBA to provide advice and encouragement in fans’ sports betting experience).

[27] See id. (explaining gradual link between legalization of sports betting and current scandal due to presence of prop bets).

[28] See Vrentas, supra note 6 (emphasizing players and coaches’ role in potential manipulation of statistics and performance to allow certain bets to succeed).

[29] See Tarrant, supra note 9 (reporting the role of prop bets in sports wagering and its connection to individual or team performance in earning profit).

[30] See id. (describing influence of player or team in providing information or altering performance to influence wager’s success).

[31] See Suspensions, Arrests, and Lifetime Bans: A Timeline of Sports Betting Scandals Since the Repeal of PASPA, espn (Oct. 23, 2025, at 20:50 ET), https://www.espn.com/espn/betting/story/_/id/39908218/a-line-sports-gambling-scandals-2018 (tracking numerous illegal sports betting operations in American professional sports, including multiple NBA issues, in decade that followed legalization of state-sponsored sports betting in United States).

[32] See Mancini, supra note 8 (interviewing former NBA referee who served one year in federal prison for wire fraud and transmitting wagering information through interstate commerce to rig NBA games in bettors’ favor).

[33] See Suspensions, Arrests, and Lifetime Bans: A Timeline of Sports Betting Scandals Since the Repeal of PASPA, supra note 31 (reporting rare lifetime ban in NBA for former player’s violation of league roles for considerable involvement in sports betting operation).

[34] See id. (providing context of NBA knowledge and investigation of current scandal in 2023).

[35] See What We Know About the Billups-Rozier NBA Gambling Cases, supra note 2 (acknowledging detailed NBA investigations into current and previous scandals involving sports betting).

[36] See id. (previewing Silver’s role in investigating and punishing those involved with current scandal and broad discretion Silver has over league decisions).

[37] See id. (previewing potential consequences of convictions in current betting scandal, which could carry up to twenty years in prison depending on charge).

[38] See Vrentas, supra note 6 (discussing widespread effects that lack of integrity creates in sports when scandals like current ones occur).

[39] See David Purdum & Doug Greenberg, NBA Commish Adam Silver Calls for More Gambling Regulation, espn (Oct. 21, 2025, at 17:11 ET), https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46675288/nba-commish-adam-silver-calls-more-gambling-regulation (reporting Silver comments on need for more federal regulation on sports betting to protect integrity mere days before current scandal broke).

[40] See id. (warning public of danger that prop bets cause to both gamblers and players, fueling need for further federal intervention).

[41] See Vrentas, supra note 6 (emphasizing need for structured next steps to scandal to deter future illegal activity).