A gambling scandal rocked the NBA last week as Heat guard Terry Rozier, Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, and dozens of other individuals were arrested by federal authorities. Rozier is alleged to have helped confidants profit from prop bets on his games by voluntarily pulling himself out of contests due to injury, while Billups is accused of engaging in rigged poker games in connection with the mafia. It is a foundation-shaking development with wide-ranging ramifications that haven't begun to be felt yet.
In the immediate aftermath of the situation, the NBA's only public statement noted Rozier and Billups were being placed on leave and that they view the allegations "with the utmost seriousness". Adam Silver said he was "deeply disturbed" by the allegations in an interview. Now the league has sent out a memo to all 30 teams regarding its gambling policy, announcing a review of several rules and an increased focus on prop bets in particular.
The statement, sent by the NBA's general counsel Rick Buchanan and the EVP of league policy Dan Spillane, can be found in full below:
"Given the spread of legal betting to the majority of U.S. states, the recurrence of integrity issues across sports, and the emergence of novel betting formats and markets, this is an opportune time to carefully reassess how sports betting should be regulated and how sports leagues can best protect themselves, their players, and their fans. While the unusual betting on Terry Rozier’s “unders” in the March 2023 game was detected in real time because the bets were placed legally, 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. In particular, proposition bets on individual player performance involve heightened integrity concerns and require additional scrutiny.
"We have also begun a process of reviewing league policies regarding injury reporting, the training and education of all NBA personnel, and safety measures for NBA players. 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.
"We also are exploring ways to enhance our existing internal and external integrity monitoring programs to better utilize AI and other tools to synthesize all available data from betting operators, social media, and other sources to identify betting activity of concern.
"We welcome team input on these matters as we move forward with this review. If you have any suggestions, questions, or other thoughts, please contact either of us."
It is a dire situation the NBA finds itself in. Arrests involving active NBA employees casts doubt upon the integrity of the game to a greater degree than ever before. There's lots of work to be done by the league, both in assuring fans these are isolated incidents and to ensure it does not happen again.
The above memo seems like a step towards the latter goal.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NBA Sends League-Wide Memo on Gambling Policies in Response to FBI Arrests .