I Bet You Didn't See That Coming
No seriously. Let's bet on it. Let's bet on how many words will be in this post. Let's bet on how many ellipses I will use. Let's bet on everything!!!!
In case you haven't heard, the NBA has a pretty big public relations fiasco on their hands. Current player Terry Rozier and current head coach Chauncey Billups were arrested a couple of days ago in separate gambling stings.
Billups' case appears to have to do with his being a honeypot to attract gamblers to rigged poker games. Billups is going to fight the charges. So we will have to wait and see how that goes. But the one I am really interested in is the Rozier arrest.According to reports, The FBI arrested Rozier for giving non-public information to gamblers. Specifically they say that back on March 23, 2023 Rozier told some gamblers that he would not be playing the full game that night. This means that if they took the under on the game performance prop bets on Rozier that night, they would be guaranteed a win. Sports books actually noticed the betting irregularities that day and took the props off the board, but anyone who was already in could still win or lose. Of course those taking the under won as Rozier only played one quarter before leaving with a foot injury.
The most shocking thing about this is that it does not happen everyday. I can't think of a single easier bet to fix than a single player prop bet. These involve betting on a players game statistics including points, rebounds and assists. Because the numbers are set assuming a player is going to play a full game, it is so easy to fix them by doing what Rozier allegedly did... just play long enough for the bets to become locked in and then take yourself out of the game. You don't have to shave points. You don't have to make your team lose. All you have to do is say you twisted your ankle (which anyone can easily say any time they play an NBA game) and viola you end up with all of your stats ending up under the line.
Now why a guy who tricked the Charlotte Hornets into giving him a $96 million contract would take the risk of fixing a bet is beyond me. But I could easily see it for players making less money. Because it is so easy, I am shocked it doesn't happen every day. But this is the NBA's own fault. Back in 2014 NBA commissioner Adam Silver advocated to legalize sports betting. Once it was, he actually had the NBA partner with MGM as the official gambling partner of the NBA. Let that sink in. They partnered with a gambling platform. So the NBA has an incentive for their to be lots of betting on their sport. What did they think was going to happen? When you push gambling... gambling happens. And in gambling, the name of the game is to get a tiny edge to help you win. so is it really surprising that if someone could easily get a huge edge, they would take it?
And this problem is incredibly easy to fix (no pun intended). Just stop allowing player props. If a player wants to make some extra money gambling, make them shave points or cause their team to lose. That will be a lot easier to police as teammates will police their pals. Of course this will never happen as there is too much money to be made off of the player prop bets. They need hardworking people to lose their money gambling on whether or not Terry Rozier will score more than 12 points. For some weird reason, I still enjoy watching NBA basketball... but they sure aren't making it easy.
I saw the news about Chauncy the other day and it was pretty sad for me given the fact that he was such a big part of the Pistons organization for so many years. I can still hear the announcer in my head saying his name in the pregame. It was iconic. I'm not saying he should get away with what he did, but I think it's pretty funny they are going after him for rigging illicit games. So he swindled people who were illegally gambling to begin with? It's almost like poetic justice in my opinion. The point shaving seems like a much more egregious issue, minus all the organized crime ties. At least when it comes to sports. The poker games could have been anyone. It's just happenstance that it was a former pro player and coach.
I don’t think the Billups thing is a slam dunk he is guilty. I’m withholding judgement on that one. He may have been paid to bring in rich guys who suck at poker. Doesn’t mean he was in on a fix. But who knows .
My brother in law is of the opinion that you can't really trust the FBI right now with all the other stuff going on, so he thinks this is all a big misdirect. They guy actually throwing basketball games should be tarred and feathered though.
crazy story the NBA really opened the door to this when they partnered with betting companies. It is sad to see players and coaches getting caught up in it.
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STOPHonestly, this made me rethink how sports betting is handled. Great insights!
I think this is a terrible reality. When money and gambling influence enters sports, fairness is lost. If big organizations like the NBA themselves partner with gambling companies, it becomes difficult to maintain the ethics of the players.
I waiting for your post on this. So many memes on x hehehe. It’s not even funny, watched the FBI report a couple of times and I'm pretty sure the NBA is in on it. It’s not just terry, there’s definitely more.
My question is how did Miami heat not have a clue?
That's so sad if that's really true, it's unfair to the players who practiced and worked hard to get there and to the spectators who fought to the death to defend their idols, then they don't know that there's gambling involved. 🤧
This is really worrying for the NBA. When players get involved in gambling, it hurts the whole game. I agree that player prop bets make it too easy for things to go wrong. Maybe the league should focus more on protecting the sport instead of pushing betting everywhere.
Right now, betting, and not just sports, is part of our daily lives, but from there to saying that he wouldn't play the entire match offers an advantage to those who know that confidential information firsthand. Also, as you say, I imagine those plays are the easiest to fix.
This is a serious issue. The way gambling is tied so closely to sports now really makes things risky. I agree, the NBA should take more responsibility instead of encouraging something that can easily lead to corruption.
Let's say I'm a sports betting fan and I didn't know those details about the NBA commissioner advocating to be partners with betting houses is something that is seen much more in football, so there are times when some results are given that are inexplicable, but well, it is now everyday and we must live with that for those of us who repeat how I like to bet; although I must admit that the "Pro Players" plays are not my favorites since, as they say, they are very manipulable depending on what they want to obtain: a Low or High
I don't think gambling should be illegal, but I also don't like how hard it is being pushed. I see and hear a surprising number of ads for various sports betting websites. "It makes the game more interesting when you have money on the line! It's like you have skin in the game!" Really? Your excitement is not the athletics on the field or court? I even hear stories of athletes who go above and beyond in a game only to be booed by the crowd because it ruined the spread in their bets. Blatantly cheating or fixing games is just another layer of corruption on top of that.