What we know about NBA gambling and rigged poker game arrests

A case involving sprawling illegal betting schemes, which the FBI says involves star National Basketball Association (NBA) personalities and the New York mafia, could be headed towards plea deals, a Brooklyn court has heard.

Miami Heat player Terry Rozier has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. His bail has been set at $3m (£2.2m).

The judge said the case – one of two alleged schemes that have led to the arrests of 34 people – would be adjourned while plea deal negotiations take place for some of those who have been charged.

Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups earlier pleaded not guilty to allegations of participating in a separate mafia-linked, illegal poker operation.

The FBI investigation into the two alleged schemes reads like a Hollywood movie, with claims of X-ray tables at high-stakes poker games, and rigged betting on NBA player performances. They were allegedly linked to some of New York’s infamous Five Families, which have ruled the city’s mafia for decades.

Here’s what we know.

FBI Director Kash Patel described the allegations to reporters as “mind-boggling”.

They include indictments in two major cases, officials said, both involving fraud.

The first case is called “operation nothing but bet”, in which players and associates allegedly used insider information to manipulate wagers on major sports betting platforms.

In some cases, players altered their performance or took themselves out of games to ensure those bets were paid out, according to New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch. Those bets amounted to tens of thousands of dollars in profits.

The second case is more complex in nature, officials said, and involved four of the five major crime families in New York as well as professional athletes.

The accused in that case are alleged to have participated in a scheme to rig illegal poker games and steal millions of dollars.

They did so using “very sophisticated” technology including off-the-shelf shuffling machines, special contact lenses and eye glasses to read pre-marked cards, according to authorities. They also used an X-ray table that could read cards that were face down.

The victims were allegedly lured to play in these games with former professional athletes, who acted as “face cards” in the scheme. The victims were unaware that everyone, including the dealer and the other players, were in on the scam.

Authorities said they began probing these poker games in 2019, spanning multiple locations including the Hamptons, Las Vegas, Miami and Manhattan.

The accused allegedly laundered profits via bank wires and cryptocurrencies.

They are also alleged to have committed acts of violence, including a robbery at gunpoint and extortion against victims.

Both schemes amounted to tens of millions of dollars in theft and robbery across several years and 11 states, authorities said.

All in all, authorities say 34 defendants were indicted on charges related to the two fraud cases.

Six people were charged in the first case of players allegedly faking injuries to influence betting odds, including Miami Heat’s guard Rozier. Rozier is in the last season of a four-year, $96m contract.

New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch alleged that in March 2023, Rozier, then playing for the Charlotte Hornets, let others close to him know that he planned to leave a game early with a supposed injury.

Members of the group then used that information to place fraudulent bets and cash out big, she said.

Speaking after the arrest, Commissioner Tisch said that Rozier’s “career is already benched, not for injury but for integrity”.

Former NBA player Damon Jones was also arrested. He is alleged to have been involved in two games that were part of the scheme: when the Los Angeles Lakers met the Milwaukee Bucks in February 2023, and a January 2024 game between the Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Jones retired from playing years ago, but since then has worked in assistant coaching jobs and media roles inside the world of the NBA. Jones has pleaded not guilty to charges that span both alleged betting schemes.

One alleged instance shared in the indictment claims Jones shared inside information with bettors about a prominent NBA player missing an upcoming game due to injury.

Authorities identified a total of seven NBA games between February 2023 and March 2024 that were part of the first case:

• 9 February 2023 – Los Angeles Lakers v Milwaukee Bucks

• 23 March 2023 – Charlotte Hornets v New Orleans Pelicans

• 24 March 2023 – Portland Trail Blazers v Chicago Bulls

• 6 April 2023 – Orlando Magic v Cleveland Cavaliers

• 15 January 2024 – Los Angeles Lakers v Oklahoma City Thunder

• 26 January 2024 – Toronto Raptors v Los Angeles Clippers

• 20 March 2024 – Toronto Raptors v Sacramento Kings

The second case relates to illegal poker games and involves a total of 31 defendants, including Portland Trail Blazers coach Billups, who was inducted to the basketball Hall of Fame last year.

Billups is on unpaid leave, and is not currently coaching the Blazers. He has pleaded not guilty and had his bail set at $5m.

Prosecutors allege that Billups acted as a “face card”, who gave the illegal poker scheme a veneer of prestige and lured unsuspecting players to rigged games.

This case involves an alleged underground poker operation that prosecutors say featured cheating devices like X-ray tables, specialised contact lenses that could read marked cards, and a compromised shuffling machine – all of which were designed to rig the games against unsuspecting high spenders at the table.

Thirteen members and associates of the Bonanno, Genovese and Gambino crime families in New York were also indicted in the illegal poker case.

The charges include robbery, extortion, wire fraud, bank fraud and illegal gambling.

In a statement after the initial arrests in October, which coincided with the opening week of the basketball season, the NBA said it was in the process of reviewing the federal indictments that were announced and that it was co-operating with authorities.

The league added that Rozier and Billups were placed “on immediate leave” from their teams.

“We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” the statement said.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he was “deeply disturbed” by the allegations.

“There’s nothing more important to the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition. I had a pit in my stomach. It was very upsetting.”

Silver said the NBA had previously investigated Rozier after sports books notified the association of unusual “prop bets” in 2023, where more than $200,000 was wagered on Rozier’s individual performance for a game.

“Terry at the time cooperated. He gave the league office his phone. He sat down for an interview. And we ultimately concluded that there was insufficient evidence despite that aberrational behaviour to move forward,” Silver said in an interview during the broadcast of an NBA game in late October.

“He still hasn’t been convicted of anything, in fairness to Terry. Obviously, it doesn’t look good. But he’s now been put on administrative leave. There’s a balance here of protecting people’s rights and investigating.”

Authorities said the alleged overall scheme involved four of the five well-known crime families of New York.

The Five Families – the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese – have ruled the city’s Italian American mafia since 1931.

Major mob takedowns reduced the prevalence of mafia activity in the 1990s, aided by the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and then-New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

But, as Thursday’s indictments show, the mafia has not entirely gone away.

The Five Families are part of the larger American-Sicilian mafia operation known as La Cosa Nostra, which translates to “this thing of ours”, and the members often work closely with their counterparts in Sicily.

On the Italian side, the gangsters consider New York City to be a “gym” where their members go to be toughened up, criminology professor and modern organised crime expert Anna Sergi, previously told BBC.