The NBA is grappling with serious legal and regulatory questions after federal authorities announced an investigation into a large sports betting scheme involving multiple people associated with the league.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the FBI alleges that the operation involved current and former NBA players and coaches, including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups.
This case has raised concerns about the integrity of games and the league’s ability to protect both players and fans from rigged events.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver emphasized the league’s responsibility to maintain fair competition while protecting players from the ever-growing world of sports gambling.
“It’s often the case that your team wins and a player scores 25 points, but the fan, the bettor, had bet that the player was going to score 28 points or 30 points,” he said, per ESPN. “We have to protect the competitors. We want to protect the environment in the arena of people getting out of hand.”
Silver added that the league is working with betting companies to limit certain types of bets that are easier to manipulate. However, he did not provide a timeline for when these changes will go into effect.
“We’ve asked some of our partners to pull back some of the prop bets, especially when they’re on two-way players, guys who don’t have the same stake in the competition, where it’s too easy to manipulate something, which seems otherwise small and inconsequential to the overall score,” explained the commissioner, according to ESPN.
“We’re trying to put in place — learning as we go and working with the betting companies — some additional control to prevent some of that manipulation.”
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. also stressed that legal sportsbooks are not part of the wrongdoing and were not involved in the alleged gambling ring.
“The sportsbooks themselves are victims in this case,” he said, per Axios. “They did not perpetrate anything unlawful.”
Silver later highlighted the need for stronger oversight and regulation.
“I think, probably, there should be more regulation, frankly,” said Silver, per ESPN. “I wish there was federal legislation rather than state by state. I think you’ve got to monitor the amount of promotion, the amount of advertising around it.”
While no regulations have been announced, many are discussing possible measures to prevent similar scandals in the future.
One potential option for the league is to remove two-way sports betting, shifting leagues into more regulated betting markets.
Currently, sports gamblers can bet on various outcomes, such as the over/under on the total score between two teams.
However, removing two-way betting would shift these possibilities, allowing gamblers to place bets on only one outcome.
More specifically, the bet would be allowed only on overs for certain bets, such as the total score, player props, or the total number of specific events that occur during a match.
By eliminating the ability to bet on the unders, players and coaches would have far less control over the outcomes of certain bets, potentially limiting the potential for rigged sports gambling.
This manipulation was evident during the most recent NBA gambling scandal, in which prosecutors alleged that Rozier attempted to leave a game early with an “injury,” resulting in the unders for his player bets hitting for that specific game, per the New York Post.
Many bettors do not prefer additional regulation in the sports betting world, but it is likely necessary to help maintain the integrity of the game in the future.