The High Price of Low Ethics: Inside the NBA’s Mafia-Linked Betting Scheme

On October 23, 2025, authorities from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested several current and former National Basketball Association (NBA) figures in connection with one of the largest sports gambling and fraud investigations in recent history. The case involves coach Chauncey Billups of the Portland Trail Blazers, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former Cleveland Cavaliers guard Damon Jones. This is not the average case of statistical manipulation: according to FBI Director Kash Patel, “the fraud is mind-boggling.”

The allegations include the misuse of confidential NBA information, manipulation of player participation in games to benefit bettors, and involvement in sophisticated, rigged, underground poker operations linked to organized crime. Federal prosecutors describe the operation as a complex network spanning multiple states, dozens of defendants, and a mix of sports betting and high-stakes poker fraud. As a part of the betting scheme, during seven games from 2023 to 2024, various players involved intentionally substituted themselves out of games in order to benefit bettors. Perhaps the most well-known, Rozier was charged with revealing insider NBA information, specifically when players were injured or were on minute restrictions. Billups was charged with rigging underground poker games, with connections to the mafia. He has also been connected to the Rozier controversy, as he was suspected of telling a number of bettors specific information about the Trail Blazers.

This is not the first time that betting scandals have occurred in the NBA. There is a long history of fraud, from as early as the 1950s—Sol Levy, a referee, admitted to fixing games—to as recent as 2024, with ex-NBA player Jontay Porter being suspended for life for violating NBA gambling policies by giving confidential information to gamblers, limiting his own playing time in games for betting purposes, and betting on his own team’s games. But perhaps the most severe example of fraud and sports betting was in the early 2000s when referee Tim Donaghy was caught and sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for betting on games in which he was officiating. 

Such scandals often involve players who aren’t on the largest contracts and are incentivized by outlandish sums of money. This can be seen in college basketball, most recently with Fresno State small forward Mykell Robinson and San Jose States guard Steven Vasquez, who were charged with betting on games in which they were playing with the intent to profit. 

Yet Billups and Rozier are much different; they have made tens of millions of dollars over the course of their careers. This points to an ongoing issue that the NBA, NFL, and many other major sports are struggling to handle, especially with the rise of online sports betting. The rise of “over/under” betting, in which the bettor does not need to pick the winning team, only whether the final combined score will be more than (over) or less than (under) a specific number, has allowed players to more easily rig their stats and, therefore, bets. This trend of increased over/under and overall sports betting has made these rigging opportunities more accessible for players and, in addition, more tempting. It has also vastly altered the environment inside arenas. Countless times, NBA players from LeBron James to Luka Doncic have heard the crowds clamoring, “only one more three for my parlay,” or something along these lines. Jaylen Brown, shooting guard of the Celtics, once expressed his opinion on this matter—it contained multiple expletives and went along the lines of “I don’t care about your parlays”—an opinion shared by many other players. This also impacts the culture of basketball, as fans care less about their favorite teams and players and more about an unknown center’s rebounding line.

But beyond the NBA and sports betting, the recent investigation included a deeper layer of fraud with mafia ties. In total, 34 people have been arrested in connection with an overlapping pair of alleged gambling rings on charges of conspiring to commit fraud, money laundering, illegal gambling, and extortion. These charges were the bulk of the investigation. Only six people, including Jones and Rozier, were arrested for the rigged NBA gambling. The rest, including Billups and, again, Jones, were indicted for the rigged poker scheme. The connecting factor between these two illegal gambling rings was their connection to the Genovese, Gambino, Lucchese, and Bonanno crime families, which are all within New York’s La Cosa Nostra, or mafia. 

Beginning as early as 2019, the crime rings set up illegal poker games that utilized a range of cheating technologies, such as compromised shuffling machines to rig the decks, an X-ray table, specialized contact lenses, and a “chip tray analyzer” that secretly reads cards using hidden cameras.

The NBA players come in as so-called “Face Cards” to entice unsuspecting players to join the game. Most times, the connection comes through an unsuspecting intermediary. In this case, a man named Robert L. Stroud recruited Billups and Jones to take part in rigged poker games and to lure wealthy victims into playing in the game. For their work as trustworthy “Face Cards” and as members of the cheating teams, Stroud paid them a portion of the criminal proceeds, which were $7 million in total.

While this case centers on concrete criminal acts, it also highlights how the mechanisms of betting can create opportunities for ethical compromise. These connections to the underground mafia crime scene and illegal activity speak to a broader issue about the messiness of betting and how it can infringe on the integrity of our favorite sports. The potential benefits of sports betting cause people to lose sight of their moral compass. The willingness of individuals to compromise ethics for financial gain is a growing concern in professional sports. The “Face Cards” here were not overshadowed and underpaid players but instead high-earning professionals who chose to deceive, manipulate outcomes, and collaborate with criminal organizations for additional profit. The fact that established figures were willing to take these risks illustrates how deeply the lure of money and betting has penetrated the culture of sports.

The scale of this investigation, along with its continuation of the pattern of gambling scandals, proves that this is more than a one-off: it foreshadows the future. And, if individuals who already have significant wealth and success are willing to engage in fraudulent behavior, the problem is not economic desperation. Instead, it’s a growing acceptance that winning financially can outweigh playing honestly.

As this investigation continues and sports betting rises, the frequency and intensity of incidents like this are growing. The question is whether this acceptance of lapses in morality is starting to infringe on the integrity of professional sports. We should view this scandal as an omen for the potential future of sports gambling and professional sports unless stronger oversight, cultural accountability, and enforcement are put in place.