The NBA's Gambling Reckoning: Inside the Biggest Betting Scandal in Years

The FBI arrested Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former player Damon Jones on Thursday as part of two massive illegal gambling investigations. The probes—“Operation Nothing but Net” and “Operation Royal Flush”—caught 34 people across 11 states in schemes involving tens of millions of dollars and four Mafia families.

FBI Director Kash Patel called it “the insider trading saga for the NBA.” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. labeled it “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized.” This isn’t just bad timing for the league—it’s a full-blown crisis that strikes at the heart of the NBA’s credibility.

What makes this scandal devastating is who’s involved. Billups is a five-time All-Star and 2004 Finals MVP. Rozier has made over $100 million in his 10-year career. These aren’t desperate fringe players—they’re established stars who allegedly risked everything for schemes that sometimes netted surprisingly little money.

Commissioner Adam Silver championed legalized sports betting for over a decade, arguing it would make the game more engaging for fans. Now he must face the reality that the betting infrastructure the NBA helped build may have created perfect conditions for corruption. Both Billups and Rozier have been placed on indefinite leave, and prosecutors say more indictments are coming.

1. The Insider Trading Playbook: Selling Game Information for Cash

Terry Rozier’s scheme was brazen and simple. On March 23, 2023, he told his childhood friend De’Niro Laster he’d fake an injury and leave the Hornets-Pelicans game early. Laster sold that tip to bettors for $100,000, who then placed hundreds of thousands in bets on Rozier’s unders. After nine minutes and minimal stats, Rozier exited as promised. Then Rozier paid for Laster to fly to Philadelphia, collect the cash, and drive to Rozier’s house to count it together. Damon Jones exploited his access to LeBron James during the 2022-23 season when he worked as an unofficial Lakers assistant. Before a February 9, 2023 game against Milwaukee, Jones texted a co-conspirator to “get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight” because the star player was out. James sat, the Lakers lost, and the bets won. James wasn’t aware of any gambling activity and hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing. The indictment describes “Co-Conspirator 8”—whose career matches Billups perfectly—tipping off a bettor that the Trail Blazers would tank a March 24, 2023 game by sitting their starters. Four regular starters sat that night. The Blazers lost by 28. Prosecutors say gamblers used insider information on at least seven games between March 2023 and March 2024, with players intentionally sitting out in three of them to help bets win.

2. The Poker Con: High-Tech Cheating Backed by the Mafia

The poker scheme was something else entirely. Thirty-one defendants allegedly ran rigged games that stole $7 million from victims since 2019, with one player alone losing $1.8 million. They used NBA celebrities like Billups as “face cards” to lure wealthy players who wanted to play poker with a Hall of Famer. Four Mafia families—the Bonanno, Gambino, Lucchese, and Genovese—backed the operation. The cheating technology was straight out of a heist movie. Shuffling machines that read every card before dealing. Poker chip trays with hidden cameras. Special contact lenses and glasses that detected pre-marked cards. Even X-ray tables that could see cards lying facedown. When victims inevitably lost, the Mafia used extortion and violence to collect debts. Billups allegedly helped organize rigged games in Las Vegas in April 2019 that stole at least $50,000 from victims. After another rigged game in October 2020, he was wired $50,000 for his participation. His lawyer says Billups would never risk his legacy for a card game. But prosecutors have receipts—literally. The wire transfers are in the indictment.

3. What Happens Next: The League’s Credibility Crisis

Both Billups and Rozier face wire fraud and money laundering charges carrying up to 20 years per count. Billups was released with travel limited to Oregon and Colorado. Rozier posted his Florida home as bond. Both surrendered their passports and are banned from gambling. Trail Blazers assistant Tiago Splitter is now interim head coach. The optics are terrible for the NBA. The league investigated Rozier for suspected betting schemes and cleared him. Then the FBI built a case that led to his arrest. Commissioner Silver spent a decade promoting legalized sports betting as good for the game. Now that same betting infrastructure appears to have enabled the corruption it was supposed to prevent. Silver recently admitted concerns about prop bets being “too easy to manipulate,” but the damage is done. This connects to Jontay Porter, who was banned in April 2024 for betting against himself. Porter appears in the current indictment as someone who was coerced after gambling debts. Federal prosecutors say more indictments are coming, including in college basketball. The NCAA just approved letting college athletes bet on pro sports—days before these arrests. The league faces a simple question: How much of what fans are watching has been compromised by gambling? And right now, nobody has a good answer.

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