The NBA laid out details of its ongoing illegal betting scandal, outlined potential changes to stop it from spreading, and addressed its partnership with sports betting companies to a Congressional committee in Washington on Wednesday.
In a staff level meeting on Capitol Hill — which means there was no NBA commissioner Adam Silver nor deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, nor were lawmakers present — league attorneys and a gambling consultant addressed questions from lawyers and congressional aides for the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.
The meeting, said by sources briefed on the discussion, was cordial in its tone and lasted for less than an hour. The House is likely to request additional documents from the NBA, but questions Wednesday largely stuck to the script from a letter sent by House committee leaders shortly after the Department of Justice filed charges against Trail Blazers coach and hall-of-fame-player Chauncey Billups, former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones, and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier for their alleged participation in illegal betting schemes last month.
The House sought details about the fraudulent, illegal, and alleged betting practices in connection with NBA players, coaches, and officials, including the actions of NBA players and coaches identified in the recent indictment; as well as prior instances. It asked for actions the NBA intends to take to limit the disclosure of nonpublic information for illegal purposes; whether the NBA’s Code of Conduct for players and coaches effectively prohibits illegal activity, including the disclosure of non-public information for the purposes of illegal betting schemes; an explanation of the gaps, if any, in existing regulations that allow illegal betting schemes to occur; and
whether and how the NBA is reevaluating the terms of its partnerships with sports betting companies?
While sources declined to outline what the NBA said specific to each question, according to federal charging documents, Billups, 49, was indicted for his alleged participation in a wide-ranging, years-long scheme to defraud card players in poker games that were said to have involved numerous members of the Bonano, Gambino, Luchese and Genovese crime families. His alleged role in the rigged poker game scheme dates to 2019, according to that indictment, when he was neither playing nor coaching in the NBA.
Billups was not charged in the indictment of Rozier, which centers on players manipulating their individual performances to influence the outcomes of “prop bets” on their statistics, and on the peddling of private injury and team lineup information to impact bets. But Billups does match the description of Co-Conspirator 8, who prosecutors say tipped off Earnest that the Blazers would be resting top players ahead of their March 24, 2023 game.
Rozier, 31, is charged in that indictment for allegedly taking himself out of a game on purpose in 2023 so a co-conspirator could place a bet and win. These charges stem from the ongoing investigation that produced a guilty plea — and subsequent lifetime ban from basketball — for former Raptors player Jontay Porter, who bet on NBA games and manipulated his own performance so co-conspirators could win money on prop bets. Porter pleaded guilty in July 2024 to one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Jones, the indictment said, used his relationship with prominent Lakers players and the team to gain information that he then sold to professional gamblers. Jones, according to prosecutors, found out on the morning of Feb. 9, 2023, that Player 3 — widely believed to be NBA superstar LeBron James — would not play in the Lakers’ game against the Bucks that night and told an unnamed co-conspirator to place a “big bet” on the Bucks because he was out. Jones also shared information on another top Lakers player, the indictment said, ahead of a game on Jan. 15, 2024, after he learned from a trainer that the player was hurt and his minutes or performance would be affected.
Two men who have not yet been charged with a crime but were identified in the charging documents as “Co-conspirator 1” and “Player 2” are both former or current NBA players; “Player 2” was a starter for the Orlando Magic in 2023.
In 2007, then-NBA official Tim Donaghy was caught betting on games in which he officiated. He was suspended and resigned, and served 11 months of a 15-month federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to two charges related to his gambling scheme.
As far as potential actions the league could take, the NBA already notified its 30 teams that it is reviewing its rules for how teams report injuries to the public – likely demanding earlier and tighter protocols for declaring a player eligible or ineligible that night. Current league rules prohibit any team personnel from placing any bets on NBA games or players (hence the Porter expulsion). The league, and its individual teams, began entering into official partnerships with big sports books like BetMGM, FanDuel and DraftKings in 2021, and those partnerships give the NBA access to the betting companies’ monitoring systems to help catch bad actors. For instance, the Porter case was made by a betting company catching, and suspending, suspicious bets on prop bets against Porter.
The House’s commerce committee also sent a letter to the NCAA on Halloween after it was announced that college athletes and coaches could bet on pro sports, warning NCAA president Charlie Baker that Congress “is examining the NCAA’s recent policy change permitting student athletes and athletic department staff to bet on professional sports” and asking questions about why the NCAA is allowing athletes and coaches to place those bets.
Meanwhile, a Senate committee chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has also asked for a briefing in writing from the NBA on its betting scandal, with a deadline to respond of Nov. 10. The league has not yet submitted its answers to that committee. The Senate’s inquiry asks general questions similar to what the House asked, but also more pointedly asked why Rozier was “cleared” by NBA investigators when federal investigators charged him with crimes?
Cruz and ranking Senate committee member Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) wrote: “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. 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.”
While the NBA can respond to the Senate’s inquiry in writing, if the answers do not satisfy lawmakers they could, when the government reopens, compel Silver to testify. The league has said it didn’t “clear” Rozier of wrongdoing, but rather simply wasn’t able to prove he broke league rules or committed federal crimes, in part because it does not have subpoena power like the federal government does.