U.S. details gambling cases involving pro athletes and mafia families(nytimes.com)
nytimes.com
U.S. details gambling cases involving pro athletes and mafia families
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10/23/nyregion/nba-illegal-gambling-arrests
75 comments
The pro sports leagues made a Faustian bargain when they partnered with sports books like FanDuel and BetMGM. Those deals brought in licensing revenue and drove up short term fan engagement because the punters betting on games watch the whole thing without switching channels. But long term I think it's going to burn their business model. The temptation for players to take a bribe is huge and now every time fans see something happen on the field that seems unexpected they start to doubt whether it's real. If the leagues don't get a handle on this then in a few decades they'll be seen as jokes: anyone still watching will be doing it for campy or ironic entertainment like professional wrestling.
>> anyone still watching will be doing it for campy or ironic entertainment like professional wrestling
"The 1877 Louisville Grays scandal was an incident in which members of the Louisville Grays baseball team accepted money to lose games. Four players – Bill Craver, Jim Devlin, George Hall and Al Nichols – were subsequently banned from professional baseball for life."
-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1877_Louisville_Grays_scandal
"The 1877 Louisville Grays scandal was an incident in which members of the Louisville Grays baseball team accepted money to lose games. Four players – Bill Craver, Jim Devlin, George Hall and Al Nichols – were subsequently banned from professional baseball for life."
-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1877_Louisville_Grays_scandal
You could sports bet in the US before this. The people I know now who are heavy into sportsbetting were using under the table bookies before legalization. You could also sportsbet in vegas. Lest we forget they were controlled by the mob and there was much less oversight into this sort of thing decades ago. Arguably old records are the ones that are most suspect either gambling or doping issues neither of which will probably ever be uncovered if they haven’t already by this point.
You are aware the rest of the world exists right? It's the entire reason horse racing exists. The game you call soccer is massively sponsored by betting companies. Sure various scandals do erupt from time to time, but it hasn't driven fans away.
> You are aware the rest of the world exists right?
I wish this was posted on every comment thread with that reminder.
I wish this was posted on every comment thread with that reminder.
You know sports betting has existed in other counties for dozens of years, right?
All these people making predictions like this is some bold leap into the unknown but it's been legal in the UK since the 1960s.
All these people making predictions like this is some bold leap into the unknown but it's been legal in the UK since the 1960s.
The UK hath no fury like a forbidden US market unleashed.
Sure, but I would argue that the current sports books are qualitatively different and make it significantly easier to get away with cheating. In the UK in the 1960s, punters could mainly only bet on whether a team would win or beat the spread. There were some match fixing scandals but it was relatively easier to detect inauthentic results or suspicious betting patterns. Now it's possible to bet on a zillion different things constantly throughout each game, like whether a football team will get a first down on the next play. If a player was paid off to gain only 9 yards instead of 10 that's much harder to a detect.
The UK has evolved a sophisticated detection and deterrent system: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/licensees-and-business...
UK regulations are also more coherent, centralised, and strict than the patchwork US model.
The question is whether the US has the gumption and collaborative power to put something similar in place before the damage is done.
UK regulations are also more coherent, centralised, and strict than the patchwork US model.
The question is whether the US has the gumption and collaborative power to put something similar in place before the damage is done.
Yeah. There were a few betfair scandals early on but it's not led to the death of sport.
Also been legal in Vegas for decades, including the days of "Lefty" Rosenthal and the Stardust Hotel when the mob was deeply entrenched there.
I bet somebody could make a movie about this.
Professional sports used to exist to profit off viewership, and thus games would occasionally be rigged to increase entertainment value and align with market demand. However, the authenticity carried a large part of why the sports were interesting to watch.
Now, sports exist to facilitate gambling. Sports are interesting to viewers who have money on the line, and thus the authenticity is irrelevant and actually undermines the sport. Every gambler wants to believe they have an edge and that the outcomes are rigged... in their favor. If the outcomes are determined by the players simply trying their best, then what's the point of gambling?
Now, sports exist to facilitate gambling. Sports are interesting to viewers who have money on the line, and thus the authenticity is irrelevant and actually undermines the sport. Every gambler wants to believe they have an edge and that the outcomes are rigged... in their favor. If the outcomes are determined by the players simply trying their best, then what's the point of gambling?
There has been so many questionable calls by officiating in most all pro sports over the years that have heavily favored the large market team. People are only half kidding when they say things like “the fix is in” or “the refs are bought.”
NBA legends. Rigged shuffling machines. Specialized contact lenses. Instagram mafiosos. This case is incredible.
That relatively small in-person games would use rigged shuffling machines, cameras, see-through playing cards, lenses etc seems to all but guarantee that every manner of deception and fraud is being perpetrated by all online gambling sites.
Just stuffing any table with two or more "players/bots" that can see all the cards or share their hands with each other would guarantee enormous payouts on the hundreds of millions at stake in the industry. There are obviously a million more things sites could be doing to take money and there's absolutely no source code control the government does to ensure that the whatever code the regulators look at is running in production and that no other systems are running in parallel, like a bot service that colludes to win.
Just stuffing any table with two or more "players/bots" that can see all the cards or share their hands with each other would guarantee enormous payouts on the hundreds of millions at stake in the industry. There are obviously a million more things sites could be doing to take money and there's absolutely no source code control the government does to ensure that the whatever code the regulators look at is running in production and that no other systems are running in parallel, like a bot service that colludes to win.
Knowing nothing about the case, I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is reality tv distraction porn that's going to end up in shakedowns and pardons being tied up in a nice little bow in the final episode.
Ever since the Gilbert Arenas bust I’ve considered this to be not uncommon. Just from the circles these athletes run in and the type of fun people tend to have with that amount of money available. Even without that amount of money plenty of people gamble informally on most anything.
Really bad look for the NBA picking up a second major scandal this year, illegal Balmer payments to Kawhi Leonard being the first.
Really bad look for the NBA picking up a second major scandal this year, illegal Balmer payments to Kawhi Leonard being the first.
I guess Austin Powers predicts the future:
>Mr. Nocella said the technology also included “specially designed contact lenses and sunglasses to read the backs of playing cards, which ensured that the victims would lose big.”
This technology (in a fictionalized eyepatch form) was the setup of the "I also like to live dangerously" joke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkzMA1jrm00
>Mr. Nocella said the technology also included “specially designed contact lenses and sunglasses to read the backs of playing cards, which ensured that the victims would lose big.”
This technology (in a fictionalized eyepatch form) was the setup of the "I also like to live dangerously" joke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkzMA1jrm00
I've wondered about the feasibility of doing something similar with scratch lottery tickets.
The way I envision it working is a customer wearing the magic glasses says they have superstitious beliefs and they need the convenience store clerk to spread the tickets out so that they can 'see the aura' or w.e. of the tickets so they can pick a winning one.
I'm curious if this is even illegal. I assume that somewhere it would be but I bet that in a lot of places it isn't and if you were subtle about it you could get away with it for years.
Of course this all relies on the idea that the sensor is something that fits in glasses, or can be discretely hidden in a broach or something they wear with the video feed displayed on their glasses.
The way I envision it working is a customer wearing the magic glasses says they have superstitious beliefs and they need the convenience store clerk to spread the tickets out so that they can 'see the aura' or w.e. of the tickets so they can pick a winning one.
I'm curious if this is even illegal. I assume that somewhere it would be but I bet that in a lot of places it isn't and if you were subtle about it you could get away with it for years.
Of course this all relies on the idea that the sensor is something that fits in glasses, or can be discretely hidden in a broach or something they wear with the video feed displayed on their glasses.
The "specially designed contact lenses" thing in cards depends on pre-marked cards, either a man on the inside doing it before the game or surreptiously marking them during play (some ink on your hand for example that you can sneak on to cards as you see them in play). That or the glasses can just feed you information gathered elsewhere, like from someone with a view of the cards.
They're not x-ray glasses and won't help you with scratch cards. Besides, someone working with a store or bribing a cashier would make way more sense than goofy theatrics about auras.
They're not x-ray glasses and won't help you with scratch cards. Besides, someone working with a store or bribing a cashier would make way more sense than goofy theatrics about auras.
For anyone interested in the Poker part of this news, two years ago I read an article in Wired magazine about a security consultant that was able to "hack" the automatic card shuffle machines. These machines are commonly used throughout the world in casinos and private games. He got the machines to send the cards dealt to each player to his phone. This showed all hands dealt and the eventual seat with the winning hand BEFORE the players even looked at their cards! At the time, I knew where there is enough money, this will surely become a problem. It was the first thing I thought about reading this news today.
Wired did a follow up article today in relation to this news: https://www.wired.com/story/how-hacked-card-shufflers-allege...
The video from 2023 explaining it all and demonstrating it is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ20ilE5DtA
Wired did a follow up article today in relation to this news: https://www.wired.com/story/how-hacked-card-shufflers-allege...
The video from 2023 explaining it all and demonstrating it is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ20ilE5DtA
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Do they have proof Chauncey conspired in and profited from the rigging? Seems like he got appearance fees in under ground games? Interesting if the prosecution can tie him to the fraud itself. Announcing it in connection with actual game rigging interesting for a case that has nothing really to do with basketball.
"One indictment in the case lists 32 defendants, including the former N.B.A. player and coach Damon Jones and the Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, who are both charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, according to the docket sheet in the case.
Many of the other defendants also face those charges, along with counts accusing them of operating an illegal gambling enterprise and conspiracies to commit extortion and robbery."
They don't necessarily have or need evidence that Billups was aware of the rigging, just the regular financial crimes of taking payments from the Mafia that will presumably get him to cooperate.
They don't necessarily have or need evidence that Billups was aware of the rigging, just the regular financial crimes of taking payments from the Mafia that will presumably get him to cooperate.
Ban all gambling again, it is so destructive to the lives of so many people who get addicted.
Should we ban anything that could be damaging to people or addictive? Slippery slope.
Slippery slope arguments are incredibly lazy. Debate the merits or otherwise of the specific thing suggested rather than some hypothetical other thing that may or may not come to pass.
why can’t my 12-year old snort cocaine in school tomorrow? that is banned for some reason…
Your 12-year old child *can snort cocaine in school tomorrow, if they want.
Precluding availability, and/ or a physical restriction (by others) there is no reason why they can't.
Or, are you talking about 'consequences'?
Or, are you talking about 'consequences'?
no, I am talking about laws which make cocaine illegal - didn’t realize I had to point that
This response is so predictable and facile as to be annoying.
it is because large majority of the population cannot comprehend that (especially in america) they have very little freedom. so then you mention “ban” and we all go “oh shit this is a free country “slippery slope banning ____” however, all the shit that is already banned - ahhh that’s ok, just don’t ban any more thing (unless it is something I want to ban…)
Cigarettes and Alcohol ?.
What’s going on with the formatting in this article? Why is every other paragraph broken by another authors byline? Is this some anti-ai posturing by NYT? They’ve made the article harder to read for no reason.
It's not an article per se, it's a kind of live news feed, with each post showing the author.
It’s not an article, it’s a live feed. They do this when a story is breaking to make it clear that they’re adding information as they learn of it, and to match the style of the rest of the internet generally.
chomp(1)
Wonder if the whole Ippei thing was part of a bigger rabbit hole too
…aaaaaaand we’ll be seeing the bankers and financial professionals involved with the money laundering catching casss right?
Oh come on Chauncey Billus didn’t do his betting in Crypto like Dogecoin we just gonna let everybody skate like George Sorry-Ass Santos I guess?
Damn answered my own question.
Oh come on Chauncey Billus didn’t do his betting in Crypto like Dogecoin we just gonna let everybody skate like George Sorry-Ass Santos I guess?
Damn answered my own question.
"They used advanced wireless technologies to read the cards dealt in each hand and then pass that information to the defendants and co-conspirators."
Can anyone take a guess at what this means?
Can anyone take a guess at what this means?
I think this refers to RFID-embedded playing cards, which have apparently been used at the World Series of Poker before: https://www.wsop.com/news/wsop-livestreaming-all-summer-with...
>The card information will be known to the viewers by using RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology for the very first time at the WSOP. Each card has a microchip embedded in it that has no impact on the cards or play, but with a specially-outfitted poker table, can send an encrypted signal to decipher the card’s rank and suit. The WSOP has used this technology during the 2012-13 WSOP Circuit season with success, and it is found throughout European poker events as well.
>The card information will be known to the viewers by using RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology for the very first time at the WSOP. Each card has a microchip embedded in it that has no impact on the cards or play, but with a specially-outfitted poker table, can send an encrypted signal to decipher the card’s rank and suit. The WSOP has used this technology during the 2012-13 WSOP Circuit season with success, and it is found throughout European poker events as well.
Update next day, I can't believe it was X-rays... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45693599
This is high enshittification. Audiences will turn to professional wrestling and roller derby because those athletes have integrity.
>Audiences will turn to professional wrestling and roller derby because those athletes have integrity
You know what the sad part is?
They won't.
Wrestling and roller derby would need to give audiences something to bet on before they would switch from football-soccer-basketball-baseball.
A switch away from the popular bet-able sports will never happen in the absence of another set of corrupt bet-able sports.
You know what the sad part is?
They won't.
Wrestling and roller derby would need to give audiences something to bet on before they would switch from football-soccer-basketball-baseball.
A switch away from the popular bet-able sports will never happen in the absence of another set of corrupt bet-able sports.
When I was young, "I like sports' meant that you like kicking the ball with guys or playing basketball or swim often.
Later it meant "I like sitting on couch watching guys on TV kick the ball".
Now it means "I am a gambler".
Later it meant "I like sitting on couch watching guys on TV kick the ball".
Now it means "I am a gambler".
Growing up in the 80's it always meant all 3. You used to have to do a little more work if you wanted to gamble though.
Has Trump pardoned them yet?
Whether we should expect that depends on whether his support for reinstating Pete Rose is on the basis of the gambling or the statutory rape.
ClarityJones(2)
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