NBA starts review of policies after gambling-related arrests of Rozier, Billups
The NBA in reaction to the arrests of Miami guard Terry Rozier and Portland coach Chauncey Billups last week for their alleged role in gambling schemes has started a review of how the league can protect not just the integrity of the contest but its players and coaches as well The league made those revelations in a memo sent to all teams a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press 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 thoroughly reassess how sports betting should be regulated and how sports leagues can best protect themselves their players and their fans read the memo sent by the NBA s legal department A pair of indictments were unsealed last week and nearly three dozen people greater part notably Billups and Rozier were arrested by federal bureaucrats Rozier was arrested because federal functionaries allege he conspired with associates to help them win bets based on his statistical performance in a meeting played when he was with Charlotte on March The charges are similar to what former Toronto member Jontay Porter faced before he was banned from the league by Commissioner Adam Silver in Sportsbooks detected peculiar patterns of wagers on the Charlotte meeting in question prop bets involving Rozier were flagged and forthwith brought to the NBA s attention and the league probed the matter but did not find enough evidence to conclude that Rozier broke any rules While the rare betting on Terry Rozier s unders in the March championship 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 the league informed its teams In particular proposition bets on individual participant performance involve heightened integrity concerns and require additional scrutiny Among the things the league will take a look at injury reports The league publishes an injury summary every hour and teams are required to disclose statuses of players within certain windows of time before their next event The NBA added the injury summary several years ago in the interest of transparency The injury statuses can be used by bettors to decide which wagers to make and if gamblers get that information before the rest of the general it s tantamount to insider trading Former NBA contestant Damon Jones now faces charges because authorities stated he tipped off bettors about the strength status of two Los Angeles Lakers players The details in that indictment clearly show that Jones was discussing the availability of LeBron James and former Lakers center Anthony Davis with bettors before their statuses for certain games was known publicly There is no indication that James or Davis had any knowledge of what Jones was alleged to be doing There were other examples of such tipping with other clubs federal representatives noted With sports betting now occupying such a key 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 memo declared The league also declared it is seeking input from teams if they have any ideas on how to best proceed going forward AP NBA https apnews com hub nba Source
