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NBA player Terry Rozier and coach Chauncey Billups have reportedly been arrested by the FBI at a hotel in Orlando as part of a gambling investigation, according to ESPN. The US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr., has announced a press conference at 10 a.m. ET to discuss “numerous” arrests and two indictments involving illegal gambling schemes. It’s widely assumed that Rozier’s arrest is among those that the announcement refers to.
Update (9:20 a.m.): Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups appears to have been another of the individuals arrested.
Update (9:40 a.m.): As the press conference is set to begin, the number of people charged has been revealed to be “more than 30.”
Update (10:15 a.m.): FBI director Kash Patel says the arrests are the result of a multi-year investigation into a long-running illegal gambling and fraud scheme involving the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese crime families, worth “tens of millions” of dollars. There are two separate fraud schemes in play: sports betting corruption, and rigged poker games. The rigged games involved “former professional athletes.”
Update (10:25 a.m.): The poker rigging involved wireless technology and hacked card shufflers. It allegedly used celebrities including Chauncey Billups as “face cards” to attract victims to the game. The FBI says this has been going on since 2019.
Update (10:45 a.m.): One victim allegedly lost $1.8 million in the rigged games. The mob used threats and violence to extract payment from victims who owed money as a result of their losses.
Rozier was already under suspicion of match-fixing after multiple sportsbooks flagged an unusually high volume of Under bets on his personal performance in a 2023 match between the Charlotte Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans. Rozer, who was playing for the Hornets at the time, left the game after ten minutes, saying he had a foot injury. Rozier had been under investigation by federal authorities since at least January this year.
Illegal Poker Games as Well as Match Fixing
The US Attorney’s announcement mentions sports betting, but also illegal poker games. Until the press conference, no further information is available on what that entails. Given that there are multiple individuals being charged, the poker component of the indictments may or may not involve Rozier. His charges seem to stem mostly from the rigging of the 2023 game; however, Billups was one of the celebrities allegedly used as bait to attract victims to the rigged poker games.
However, there has already been one arrest of a former NBA player this year related to underground poker. Gilbert Arenas, formerly of the Washington Wizards, was charged with running illegal high-stakes games out of his Los Angeles mansion.
The discovery of match-fixing schemes has become a common occurrence since the legalization of sports betting in the U.S. What’s less clear, however, is whether match fixing itself is now more prevalent, or whether the regulated market merely increases the odds of detection.
Image Credit: Keith Allison via Wikimedia Commons (license)
