NBA reviewing policies to fight ‘dire risks’ of gambling: Report
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Portland head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested, along with Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and others, as part of an FBI probe into sports gambling and betting.
PHOTO: IMAGN IMAGES VIA REUTERS
Follow topic:
- NBA reviewing policies after gambling scandal involving Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups, who deny wrongdoing.
- League to enhance integrity monitoring with AI, scrutinise "prop" bets due to heightened integrity concerns.
- The NBA aims to educate personnel on gambling's "dire risks" and protect players from harassment.
AI generated
NEW YORK – The NBA is reviewing league policies to ensure players know gambling’s “dire risks”, according to a league memo reportedly sent to teams on Oct 27 in the wake of a betting scandal.
The memo, obtained and revealed by ESPN, came four days after FBI agents arrested Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland head coach Chauncey Billups
Both were put on administrative leave by the NBA and each has denied wrongdoing through lawyers.
The league said in the memo it had started “reviewing league policies regarding injury reporting, the training and education of all NBA personnel, and safety measures for NBA players”, according to the ESPN report.
“With sports betting now occupying such a significant part of the current sports landscape, every effort must be made to ensure that players, coaches and other NBA personnel are fully aware of the dire risks that gambling can impose upon their careers and livelihoods; that our injury disclosure rules are appropriate; and that players are protected from harassment from bettors.”
The review will include looking at how artificial intelligence and other tools can help detect improper activities.
“We are also exploring ways to enhance our existing internal and external integrity monitoring programs to better utilize AI and other tools to synthesise all available data from betting operators, social media, and other sources to identify betting activity of concern,” the NBA said.
Rozier was charged in a scheme around “prop” bets in a March 2023 game when he played for the Charlotte Hornets. An indictment says he told a friend he would be leaving the game against New Orleans early and the information was allegedly sold to gamblers.
An unusual number of bets were placed on Rozier’s statistical numbers in the game to be below expected levels and Rozier was removed from the games after just over nine minutes with a foot injury.
“Prop” bets need more action from legal and regulatory authorities, the NBA memo said.
“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,” the memo states.
“In particular, proposition bets on individual player performance involve heightened integrity concerns and require additional scrutiny.”
The Supreme Court in 2018 paved the way for states to legalise sports betting. The NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League had long opposed legalisation, fearing it would compromise the integrity of their games.
Now, professional sports and online betting platforms are enmeshed in a tight embrace, with ads blanketing television broadcasts and sportsbooks available to fans on their phones and inside arenas and stadiums.
Billups, meanwhile, is charged with taking part in rigged poker games and using his fame to lure other players into the games, where high-tech cheating methods were used to ensure they were losers.
Relatedly, Denise White, the business manager representing Hall of Fame tight end Antonio Gates, denied allegations he hosted and played in a fixed poker game organized by Curtis Meeks.
Meeks was indicted by federal investigators last week along with Billups.
Investigative journalist Pablo Torre reported Sunday that his sources claimed Gates was one of the prominent hosts of the poker games that were part of the sting.
Meeks, 41, was arrested in Texas last week and prosecutors accused him of helping “provide cheating technology to participants in the scheme.”
Authorities said victims were cheated out of over US$7 million since 2019.
White denied the report alleging that Gates hosted a rigged poker game in Miami in a short statement on Monday afternoon.
“Antonio Gates has not been involved nor has he been accused of any wrongdoing,” the statement read. “Assertions to the contrary are false and without merit. There will be no further comments on this matter.”
Gates, 45, was not mentioned in the multiple indictments last week. He is not known to be under investigation and has not been publicly accused by authorities of a crime. AFP, REUTERS
