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Tag: Gambling

  • A closer look at the pitches by Clase, Ortiz cited in sporting gambling indictment

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted Sunday on charges they took bribes from sports bettors to throw specific pitches that would trigger winnings on in-game prop bets.

    Prosecutors identified pitches from Clase and Ortiz that helped two unnamed gamblers from their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000. This included throwing pitches intentionally outside of the strike zone or within certain velocity ranges. Here’s a closer look at those pitches.

    Emmanuel Clase

    May 19, 2023

    The indictment cites this outing without a photo of the specific pitch, saying the scheme included a bet of about $27,000 that Clase would throw a pitch of greater than 94.95 mph. Clase began with a 98.5 mph cutter to the New York Mets’ Starling Marte that was low and inside in the 10th inning. Marte flied out on the next pitch, but the Mets rallied for a 10-9 win on RBI singles by Francisco Alvarez and Francisco Lindor. Clase took the loss.

    June 3, 2023

    The indictment cited bets of about $38,000 for a ball or hit by pitch and velocity slower than 94.95 mph. An 89.4 mph slider to Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers bounced well short of home plate starting the ninth inning and hit catcher Mike Zunino near a shoulder, leading an athletic trainer to check on the catcher. Jeffers struck out four pitches later and Clase got the save in a 4-2 win.

    June 7, 2023

    The indictment cited bets of about $58,000 for a ball or hit by pitch and velocity slower than 94.95 mph. Clase started the ninth inning with a 91.4 mph slider to Boston’s Jarren Duran that was caught just above the dirt. Duran walked on four pitches and was stranded as Clase got the save in a 5-3 win.

    April 12, 2025

    The indictment cited bets of about $15,000 for a ball or hit by pitch and velocity slower than 98.95 mph. An 89.4 mph slider to Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. bounced opening the ninth inning. Witt singled three pitches later, starting a two-run, ninth-inning rally in the Guardians’ 6-3 win.

    May 11, 2025

    The indictment cited bets of about $11,000 for a ball or hit by pitch. A 99.1 mph cutter to Philadelphia’s Max Kepler was in the dirt starting the ninth inning. Kepler grounded out five pitches later and the Phillies went on to win 3-0.

    May 13, 2025

    The indictment cited bets of about $3,500 for a ball or hit by pitch and velocity slower than 99.45 mph. A 89.1 mph slider to Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers bounced opening the ninth inning. Bauers struck out five pitches later and Clase got the save in a 2-0 win.

    May 17, 2025

    The indictment cited bets of about $10,000 for a ball or hit by pitch and velocity slower than 97.95 mph. An 87.5 mph slider to Cincinnati’s Santiago Espinal bounced starting the eighth inning. Espinal singled four pitches later. Clase was relieved by Joey Castillo with two outs and two on and got a strikeout in a game the Reds won 4-1.

    May 28, 2025

    The indictment cites the outing without a photo of the specific pitch, saying the scheme included bets of about $4,000 that a pitch would be a ball or hit batter. Clase started the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Andy Pages with a slider that bounced just behind the plate, but Pages swung and missed. Pages grounded out two pitches later to start the ninth and Clase got the save in a 7-4 win. The indictment says a bettor sent Clase a text with a GIF of a man hanging himself with toilet paper and Clase responded with a GIF of a sad puppy dog face.

    Luis Ortiz

    June 15, 2025

    The indictment cited bets of about $13,000 that a pitch would be a ball. A first-pitch 86.7 mph slider to Seattle’s Randy Arozarena bounced starting the second inning. Arozarena walked on five pitches and scored the game’s first run on Miles Mastrobuoni’s RBI single in a five-run inning of a game the Mariners won 6-0.

    June 27, 2025

    The indictment cited bets of about $18,000 that a pitch would be a ball. A first-pitch 86.7 mph slider to St. Louis’ Pedro Pagés bounced and went to the backstop opening the third inning. Pagés homered two pitches later for the game’s first run in a three-run inning, and the Cardinals won 5-0.

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    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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  • MLB, sportsbooks cap bets on individual pitches in response to pitch-rigging scandal

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    Major League Baseball said its authorized gaming operators will cap bets on individual pitches at $200 and exclude them from parlays, a day after two Cleveland Guardians players were indicted and accused of rigging pitches at the behest of gamblers.

    MLB said Monday the limits were agreed to by sportsbook operators representing more than 98% of the U.S. betting market. The league said in a statement that pitch-level bets on outcomes of pitch velocity and of balls and strikes “present heightened integrity risks because they focus on one-off events that can be determined by a single player and can be inconsequential to the outcome of the game.”

    “The risk on these pitch-level markets will be significantly mitigated by this new action targeted at the incentive to engage in misconduct,” the league said. “The creation of a strict bet limit on this type of bet, and the ban on parlaying them, reduces the payout for these markets and the ability to circumvent the new limit.”

    MLB said the agreement included Bally’s, Bet365, BetMGM, Bet99, Betr, Caesars, Circa, DraftKings, 888, FanDuel, Gamewise, Hard Rock Bet, Intralot, Jack Entertainment, Mojo, Northstar Gaming, Oaklawn, Penn, Pointsbet, Potawatomi, Rush Street and Underdog.

    Cleveland pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted Sunday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on charges they took bribes from sports bettors to throw certain types of pitches. They were charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery and money laundering conspiracy. The indictment says they helped two unnamed gamblers in the Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 on bets placed on the speed and outcome of certain pitches, including some that landed in the dirt.

    Ortiz’s lawyer, Chris Georgalis, said in a statement that his client was innocent and “has never, and would never, improperly influence a game — not for anyone and not for anything.” A lawyer for Clase, Michael J. Ferrara, said his client “has devoted his life to baseball and doing everything in his power to help his team win. Emmanuel is innocent of all charges and looks forward to clearing his name in court.”

    The U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 ruled the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 was unconstitutional, allowing states to legalize sports betting.

    Ortiz appeared Monday in federal court in Boston. U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald L. Cabell granted Ortiz his release on the condition he surrender his passport, restrict his travel to the Northeast U.S. and post a $500,000 bond, $50,000 of it secured. Ortiz was ordered to avoid contact with anyone who could be viewed as a victim, witness or co-defendant.

    Last month, more than 30 people, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, were arrested in a takedown of two sprawling gambling operations that authorities said rigged poker games backed by Mafia families and leaked inside information about NBA athletes.

    Billups’ attorney, Chris Heywood, issued a statement denying the allegations. Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, said in a statement his client is “not a gambler” and “looks forward to winning this fight.”

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    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

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  • Online gambling is everywhere. So are the risks

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    NEW YORK — Online betting is more accessible than ever, with 14% of U.S. adults saying they bet on professional or college sports online either frequently or occasionally, according to a February poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. It’s also in the news, with a growing list of sports betting scandals making headlines.

    Public health advocates and personal finance advisers say it’s important to know the risks if you’re going to gamble online.

    “Gambling and ‘responsibly’ seem to be oxymoronic, because if you’re gambling it’s all about risk,” said Caleb Silver, editor in chief of personal finance site Investopedia. “But people still do it. Online gambling and sports betting are only becoming more popular.”

    Since the Supreme Court struck down a ban on sports betting in 2018, 38 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized gambling, according to the American Gaming Association.

    For those new to online gambling, it can be helpful to set limits in advance on how much you’re willing to lose and how much time you’re willing to spend. Many of the platforms and apps that offer gambling, such as FanDuel and DraftKings, include optional safeguards to limit time or losses. Other apps can block access to the platforms for set amounts of time.

    Here’s what to know:

    The potential losses of digital betting can occur more quickly than in a physical casino, according to Heather Eshleman, director of operations at the Maryland Center for Excellence on Problem Gambling, since people can bet so much so easily and quickly on the internet or apps, with less friction.

    The new prevalence of prediction markets, such as PredictIt and Kalshi, has also created new opportunities to place wagers online on everything from election outcomes to celebrity news to the weather.

    According to public health advocates, the biggest warning sign of a problem is if you’re devoting time to online betting that’s taking away from other things in your life — especially your relationships with friends, family, and work. If you’re spending money on gambling that could instead go towards unmet basic needs, that’s also a warning sign.

    “We encourage people to only use money they would use for fun and entertainment, not money that should be used to pay the mortgage or the rent or to pay for food,” said Eshleman.

    Silver echoed this.

    “You have to know before you do it how much you can afford to lose,” he said. “What is your ‘tap out point?’ Those rules have to be firmly established.”

    Most sports betting platforms offer “responsible gambling tools,” according to Eshleman.

    “You can set limits on time, money, deposits, wins, and losses,” she said. “The goal is to set those limits before you start, because if you don’t set them in advance, they’re not really going to work for you. Once you’re into the excitement of it, you’re not going to stop and use those tools.”

    Eshleman recommends apps such as GambBan and BetBlocker, which limit access to gambling sites externally. She also directs those who suspect they may have a problem to use the 1-800-GAMBLER hotline or contact Gamblers Anonymous.

    Silver, the head of Investopedia, said he started adding definitions of online betting and gambling terms to the personal finance site when he saw an increasingly “closer connection between sports betting, day trading, options trading, and cryptocurrency trading.” He encourages those who are interested in digital betting to make sure they know what they’re getting into.

    “Before anyone even gets an online (gambling) account, they should be required to know the fundamental terms and rules about the way sports betting works,” he said. “What’s the ‘money line’ or ‘parlay?’ How do odds work? What is the maximum I could lose on this bet?”

    The other thing to do is to “play with no expectation of a return,” he said. “The likelihood is that you will lose. So, if you’re willing to lose, how much are you willing to lose?”

    Cory Fox, senior vice president of public policy and sustainability at FanDuel, who handles the site’s responsible gambling initiatives, compares using the safeguards to wearing a seatbelt when driving in a car and said FanDuel is committed to setting standards for being a responsible operator in the online gambling space.

    Lori Kalani, chief responsible gaming officer at DraftKings, said the site is committed to the same goal and compared using the limit-setting tools to taking Ubers instead of driving on a night when you know you’ll be drinking.

    Fox added that responsible gambling tools are important to help allow FanDuel to maintain its social license. He said that it’s in the interest of the site to make sure its users can be on the site and play for a long time to come.

    “If you’re taking care of your mental health, you’re less likely to have a problem with gambling,” Eshleman said.

    Rather than turning to the thrill of placing online bets, Eshleman encourages people to find positive ways to cope with stress — listening to music, taking walks, getting more sleep and exercise, and spending more time socializing. Social gambling is safer than hidden, private gambling, she said.

    “If you’re doing it alone, that’s a red flag that it’s not an activity that’s healthy for you,” said Eshleman. “It all ties in to our basic wellness. I think if people focus on wellness, it will prevent a lot of gambling.”

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    The Associated Press receives support from the Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

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  • MLB pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz charged with taking bribes to rig pitches for bettors

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been indicted on charges they took bribes from sports bettors to throw certain types of pitches, including tossing balls in the dirt instead of strikes, to ensure successful bets.

    According to the indictment unsealed Sunday in federal court in Brooklyn, the highly paid hurlers took several thousand dollars in payoffs to help two unnamed gamblers from their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 on in-game prop bets on the speed and outcome of certain pitches.

    Clase, the Guardians’ former closer, and Ortiz, a starter, have been on non-disciplinary paid leave since July, when MLB started investigating what it said was unusually high in-game betting activity when they pitched. Some of the games in question were in April, May and June.

    Ortiz, 26, was arrested Sunday by the FBI at Boston Logan International Airport. He is expected to appear in federal court in Boston on Monday. Clase, 27, was not in custody, officials said.

    Ortiz and Clase “betrayed America’s pastime,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said. “Integrity, honesty and fair play are part of the DNA of professional sports. When corruption infiltrates the sport, it brings disgrace not only to the participants but damages the public trust in an institution that is vital and dear to all of us.”

    Ortiz’s lawyer, Chris Georgalis, said in a statement that his client was innocent and “has never, and would never, improperly influence a game — not for anyone and not for anything.”

    Georgalis said Ortiz’s defense team had previously documented for prosecutors that the payments and money transfers between him and individuals in the Dominican Republic were for lawful activities.

    “There is no credible evidence Luis knowingly did anything other than try to win games, with every pitch and in every inning. Luis looks forward to fighting these charges in court,” Georgalis said.

    A lawyer for Clase, Michael J. Ferrara, said his client “has devoted his life to baseball and doing everything in his power to help his team win. Emmanuel is innocent of all charges and looks forward to clearing his name in court.”

    The Major League Baseball Players Association had no comment.

    Unusual betting activity prompted investigation

    MLB said it contacted federal law enforcement when it began investigating unusual betting activity and has fully cooperated with authorities. “We are aware of the indictment and today’s arrest, and our investigation is ongoing,” a league statement said.

    In a statement, the Guardians said: “We are aware of the recent law enforcement action. We will continue to fully cooperate with both law enforcement and Major League Baseball as their investigations continue.”

    Clase and Ortiz are both charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery. The top charges carry a potential punishment of up to 20 years in prison.

    In one example cited in the indictment, Clase allegedly invited a bettor to a game against the Boston Red Sox in April and spoke with him by phone just before taking the mound. Four minutes later, the indictment said, the bettor and his associates won $11,000 on a wager that Clase would toss a certain pitch slower than 97.95 mph (157.63 kph).

    In May, the indictment said, Clase agreed to throw a ball at a certain point in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the batter swung, resulting in a strike, costing the bettors $4,000 in wagers. After the game, which the Guardians won, one of the bettors sent Clase a text message with an image of a man hanging himself with toilet paper, the indictment said. Clase responded with an image of a sad puppy dog face, according to the indictment.

    Clase, a three-time All-Star and two-time American League Reliever of the Year, had a $4.5 million salary in 2025, the fourth season of a $20 million, five-year contract. The three-time AL save leader began providing the bettors with information about his pitches in 2023 but didn’t ask for payoffs until this year, prosecutors said.

    The indictment cited specific pitches Clase allegedly rigged — all of them first pitches when he entered to start an inning: a 98.5 mph (158.5 kph) cutter low and inside to the New York Mets’ Starling Marte on May 19, 2023; an 89.4 mph (143.8 kph) slider to Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers that bounced well short of home plate on June 3, 2023; an 89.4 mph (143.8 kph) slider to Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. that bounced on April 12; a 99.1 mph (159.5 kph) cutter in the dirt to Philadelphia’s Max Kepler on May 11; a bounced 89.1 mph (143.4) slider to Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers on May 13; and a bounced 87.5 mph (140.8 kph) slider to Cincinnati’s Santiago Espinal on May 17.

    Prosecutors said Ortiz, who had a $782,600 salary this year, got in on the scheme in June and is accused of rigging pitches in games against the Seattle Mariners and the St. Louis Cardinals.

    Ortiz was cited for bouncing a first-pitch 86.7 mph (139.5 kph) slider to Seattle’s Randy Arozarena starting the second inning on June 15 and bouncing a first-pitch 86.7 mph (139.5 kph) slider to St. Louis’ Pedro Pagés that went to the backstop opening the third inning on June 27.

    Dozens of pro athletes have been charged in gambling sweeps

    The charges are the latest bombshell developments in a federal crackdown on betting in professional sports.

    Last month, more than 30 people, including prominent basketball figures such as Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, were arrested in a gambling sweep that rocked the NBA.

    Sports betting scandals have long been a concern, but a May 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling led to a wave of gambling incidents involving athletes and officials. The ruling struck down a federal ban on sports betting in most states and opened the doors for online sportsbooks to take a prominent space in the sports ecosystem.

    Major League Baseball suspended five players in June 2024, including a lifetime ban for San Diego infielder Tucupita Marcano for allegedly placing 387 baseball bets with a legal sportsbook totaling more than $150,000.

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    This story was first published on Nov. 9. It was updated on Nov. 11 to correct that, according to an indictment, a bettor sent Clase an image of a man hanging himself with toilet paper. Clase didn’t send that image to the bettor.

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    Associated Press reporters Eric Tucker in Washington and Ron Blum in New York contributed to this report.

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  • Study Finds Around a Quarter of Polymarket Trades Are Fake

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    If you had the “over” on the bet that over 10% of trades on the predictions market Polymarket are inauthentic, go ahead and cash in that ticket. According to a recent study from researchers at Columbia University, as much as one quarter of all trading volume happening on the platform is “artificial trading.”

    The researchers looked at three years’ worth of buying and selling activity on Polymarket, which allows people to trade “contracts” related to real-world events based on the probability of a given outcome. What they found was that about 25% of those contracts were “wash trades,” which happens when a person or entity buys and sells the same contract to create fake levels of trading volume that can manipulate the market.

    It’s important to note that the researchers don’t accuse Polymarket of participating in these transactions to artificially create apparent interest in an event, but they do suggest that the fact that the platform is using a cryptocurrency stablecoin as its medium of exchange may make these types of transactions easier for traders to execute.

    The researchers developed an algorithm that helped to identify accounts that were only engaging with a small subset of other accounts, regularly buying a contract one of those other accounts was selling or vice versa. That revealed networks of traders who appeared to be performing wash trades that artificially created additional volume and interest where there otherwise was none.

    There was no shortage of those types of transactions happening. In fact, the researchers flagged nearly 15% of wallets on the platform—a total of 1.26 million of them—that they believe are participating in these artificial transactions. While 25% of all Polymarket volume can be attributed to these fake trades, per the researchers, levels spiked much higher than that at times. At its peak in December 2024, they estimate that as much as 60% of trading volume was likely attributable to phony orders.

    Polymarket did not respond to a request for comment regarding the study’s findings.

    While Polymarket may not be actively involved in manipulating trading volume on its platform, it sure does do a lot of work to generate volume via posting bait on social media. On November 4, the day of the New York mayoral election, the company went all in on trying to gin up buyers and sellers willing to bet on the outcome of the race, posting about how Mamdani was listed twice on the ballot (a thing that is true but not malicious, as right wing accounts across social media tried to to suggest) and saying there was a “surge of whales” betting on Andrew Cuomo to win while asking, “Do they know something we don’t?” That’s probably not technically market manipulation, but it is pretty shameless.

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    AJ Dellinger

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  • Is Gambling Really Threatening the Integrity of Sports?

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    Perhaps there’s a lot we don’t know happening in the dark; additional revelations could change my perspective. But, given the fanfare with which the F.B.I. presented the cases against Billups and Rozier, it’s hard to imagine that some epidemic of point shaving is going on. The most likely scenario might be that, yes, a few more athletes than before, perhaps especially those who are in financial trouble, are turning to sports betting as a way to generate a modest amount of extra income—or, in some instances, to work off their own gambling debt. Looking over the landscape now, I find I am less concerned than I was eighteen months ago, not more.

    In that earlier column, I noted my resistance to grandiose moralizing before confessing that I was becoming genuinely worried about how all the new gambling talk might affect children and their enjoyment of the game. Of all the arguments advanced to regulate and restrict the new apps, “think of the children” is the most common—and, I now have to admit, as a parent of two young children, the silliest.

    One of the more full-throated versions of this case was made in December, by the Washington Post, which published an editorial titled “For a New Generation of Kids, Sports and Gambling Now Go Hand in Glove.” The piece described the current state of affairs like so:

    For decades, professional sports considered gambling taboo. But now, with 38 states and D.C. allowing legal betting on games, the ubiquity of sports betting advertisements, and lucrative tie-ups between professional teams and gambling companies, a generation of young people has grown up with gambling as a normal—even integral—part of spectator sports, one which, according to the impression that ads create, is an easy money, no-lose proposition.

    But is this actually true? I thought about it after watching Game Seven of the World Series, last Saturday. Were any of the kids who stayed up to see Yoshinobu Yamamoto heroically close out the series thinking about prop bets or the over/under? I was watching while chatting online with a group of dudes with whom I’ve played fantasy sports—itself a modest form of sports gambling—for the better part of two decades. Everyone in the group has bet on sports for their entire adult lives. Outside of a few ironic comments, there was effectively no talk about bets or spreads or parlays throughout the entire eleven innings. After the game ended, we argued about whether we had witnessed the greatest World Series game of all time. If this group of hardened degenerates was able to enjoy the action at this level, who, exactly, are the spiritual victims of sports betting? Who has had their fandom stripped away? What is “fandom,” anyway?

    I have begun to suspect that much of the moralizing about children must come from people who don’t have any—or who, at the very least, do not take them to many sporting events. In the past year, my eight-year-old daughter has attended a variety of collegiate and professional contests and watched many more on television, and she has never once asked about DraftKings or why the commentators are talking about moneyline odds. If she did, I would explain that all of that was for adults, which is also what I would say if she asked about the ads for erectile-dysfunction medication that appear between innings.

    This leads me to a final question: Do we really want to sanitize sports into some childish endeavor that exemplifies all the innocent wonderment found within the spirit of human beings, or whatever? In the past few years, a handful of former N.F.L. players have died at a startlingly young age. Demaryius Thomas, Vincent Jackson, Marion Barber, and Doug Martin were all in their thirties when they died, and all of them were struggling with depression or other severe mental-health issues that were very possibly related to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (C.T.E.). Meanwhile, the N.B.A., which once loudly proclaimed its commitment to social justice, has developed a robust financial partnership with the United Arab Emirates, a country that is sending weapons to further the brutal massacre in Sudan. These issues concern me far more than a handful of players gambling on games they weren’t playing in. I would probably have a hard time explaining to my child why Peyton Manning was nearly in tears at Thomas’s posthumous induction into the Denver Broncos’ Ring of Fame. And I also would not want to tell her why her favorite hoopers were competing in a meaningless in-season tournament funded by the U.A.E.

    This isn’t an attempt at cheap whataboutism—and it certainly doesn’t mean that gambling isn’t a problem. Nor does it mean that harsh punishments shouldn’t be doled out to players who bet on their own games. Rather, what it means, to me, is that we abandon moralizing mythmaking around professional and collegiate sports altogether. We shouldn’t lie to preserve abstract ideas such as fandom and integrity, nor should we pretend that the first bet on a football game happened on an iPhone. Professional sports are rapacious for-profit enterprises that produce wildly entertaining, sometimes violent, and sometimes inspiring athletic competition. Isn’t that enough? ♦

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    Jay Caspian Kang

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  • Ex-NBA player Damon Jones pleads not guilty to selling injury secrets

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    NEW YORK — Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges he profited from rigged poker games and provided sports bettors with non-public information about injuries to stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

    Jones, a onetime teammate of James, said little during back-to-back arraignments in federal court in Brooklyn, letting his court-appointed lawyer enter not guilty pleas in a pair of cases stemming from last month’s federal takedown of sprawling gambling operations.

    Jones, 49, acknowledged he read both indictments and that he understood the charges and his bail conditions, which include his mother and stepfather putting up their Texas home as collateral for a $200,000 bond that will allow him to remain free pending trial.

    Jones’ lawyer, Kenneth Montgomery, told a judge that they “may be engaging in plea negotiations.” He is due back in court for a preliminary conference with other defendants on Nov. 24.

    Jones was among more than 30 people arrested in the gambling sweep. The others included reputed mobsters and prominent basketball figures, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier.

    Sports bettor Marves Fairley also pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges alleging he cashed in on information about injuries to NBA players, including some that prosecutors say Jones provided to him.

    Jones, an NBA journeyman, earned more than $20 million playing for 10 teams in 11 seasons from 1999 to 2009. He and James played together in Cleveland from 2005 to 2008 and he served as an unofficial assistant coach for James’ Los Angeles Lakers during the 2022-2023 season.

    According to prosecutors, Jones sold or attempted to sell non-public information to bettors that James was injured and wouldn’t be playing in a Feb. 9, 2023, game against the Milwaukee Bucks, texting an unnamed co-conspirator: “Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out.”

    James wasn’t listed on the Lakers’ injury report at the time of the text message, but the NBA’s all-time scoring leader was later ruled out of the game because of a lower body jury, according to prosecutors, and the Lakers lost the game 115-106.

    On Jan. 15, 2024, prosecutors said, Fairley paid Jones approximately $2,500 for a tip that Davis, the Lakers’ forward and center at the time, would see limited playing time against the Oklahoma City Thunder because of an injury.

    Fairley then placed a $100,000 bet on the Thunder to win, prosecutors said, but the tip was wrong. Davis played his usual minutes, scored 27 points and collected 15 rebounds in a 112-105 Lakers win, prompting Fairley to demand a refund of his $2,500 fee, prosecutors said.

    Jones, a native of Galveston, Texas, who played college basketball at the University of Houston, is charged in both cases with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. As part of his bail agreement, his travel is restricted to parts of Texas and New York City. He was allowed to keep his passport to use as identification for flying until he obtains a REAL ID, which his lawyer said should happen soon.

    A hot hand from outside the three-point arc, Jones once proclaimed himself in an interview with insidehoops.com as “the best shooter in the world.” He played in every regular season game for three consecutive seasons from 2003 to 2006.

    After his playing days, he worked as a “shooting consultant” for the Cavaliers and was an assistant coach when the team, led by James, won the NBA championship in 2016.

    In the poker scheme, according to prosecutors, Jones was among former NBA players used to lure unwitting players into poker games that were rigged using altered shuffling machines, hidden cameras, special sunglasses and even X-ray equipment built into the table.

    According to the indictment, Jones was paid $2,500 for a game in the Hamptons where he was instructed to cheat by paying close attention to others involved in the scheme. His instructor likened those people to James and NBA All-Star Steph Curry, prosecutors said. When in doubt, Jones was told to fold his hand, prosecutors said.

    In response, according to prosecutors, Jones texted: “y’all know I know what I’m doing!!”

    The poker scheme often made use of illegal poker games run by New York crime families that required them to share a portion of their proceeds with the Gambino, Genovese and Bonnano crime families, according to prosecutors.

    Members of those families, in turn, also helped commit violent acts, including assault, extortion and robbery, to ensure repayment of debts and the continued success of the operation, officials said in court documents.

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  • $1 million Powerball ticket sold in Sherburn has yet to be claimed

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    A Minnesota Lottery player won $1 million after a Powerball drawing in late October, state lottery officials said.

    The winning ticket has yet to be claimed. The winning numbers for the Oct. 25 drawing were 2, 12, 22, 39, 67 and the Powerball number was 15. The power play multiplier was 2.

    The ticket was sold at Casey’s General Store in Sherburn, Minnesota. The business will earn a $5,000 bonus.

    The winner must claim their prize at the Minnesota Lottery headquarters in Roseville within a year of the drawing date.

    In last year’s general election, Minnesotans voted overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining the policy of placing 40% of all Minnesota Lottery proceeds into the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. In January, it was announced $1.2 million of those funds would go to the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine for avian influenza research.

    If you or someone you know struggles with playing responsibly, the Minnesota Department of Human Services has resources available. Call 800-333-HOPE for free, confidential information and referral to services in your area or visit getgamblinghelp.com.

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    WCCO Staff

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  • How to Hack a Poker Game

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    Michael Calore: Yeah. My favorite indiscreet product placement was in the show Entourage from HBO. It was on TV, I don’t know, 15 years ago.

    Lauren Goode: Oh, I remember it.

    Michael Calore: And the characters used to say to each other, “I’ll BBM it to you.”

    Lauren Goode: No. Time capsule.

    Michael Calore: Yeah. Which is like, even if you had a Blackberry—

    Lauren Goode: Yeah, you never said that.

    Michael Calore: Nobody ever said that.

    Lauren Goode: No, it’s so true.

    Michael Calore: They would text it to you.

    Lauren Goode: Incredible.

    Michael Calore: But no, I’m going to BBM it to you.

    Andy Greenberg: Just the fact that we even know what BBM-ing is just kind of means it worked.

    Lauren Goode: Or maybe it’s more, “What is that, guys? I don’t remember that. I’m too young.” All right, Andy, give us your WIRED, TIRED.

    Andy Greenberg: Well, I am not a video game reporter, but I did buy the—everybody has been talking about this game Silksong. It was $20 on the Switch. I bought it for my 9-year-old son, and I thought that I would play this cute little game and I just cannot believe how fricking hard it is. Nobody is talking about the fact that this incredibly popular game—it makes you want to cry. Like me, not my son, like me, the adult. I cannot stop playing it.

    But I have been more frustrated playing this game than I have been maybe in anything else in my life or work for years. This is my extremely amateur video game trend watching observation that for a while all these games got really easy like Candy Crush and Farmville and Angry Bird stuff where you just basically can’t lose. And people seem to love that and games got incredibly easy. And now it feels like we’re in this era where games are just absurdly hard, including these—what look like casual games for kids are in fact some of the most challenging things you will do in your life. And actually I think it’s great. So yeah, I would say TIRED are easy games and WIRED is games that are ridiculously hard and making me want to cry.

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    Lauren Goode, Michael Calore, Andy Greenberg

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  • Inside the Star-Studded, Mob-Run Poker Games That Allegedly Steal Millions From Players

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    The host’s role in these games can be quite fraught.

    “When you’re talking about home games, the phrase ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’ kind of applies here,” Berkey asserts. “Because you’re fully at the hands of whoever is hosting the game … They’re in control of the dealers, they’re in control of the decks, they’re in control of the tables, the shuffle machines.”

    They’re also in charge of the books, and that’s where the drama often begins.

    These aren’t casinos with cages, cameras, and fully monitored methods of depositing and withdrawing money. Credit is regularly utilized, both to appease players and to avoid issues with traceable movements of large cash sums.

    “People don’t always pay,” Berkey says. “And when that becomes an issue, now it’s the host’s job to make good on the books in some capacity, otherwise they’re going to lose all their clientele.”

    Enter the mafia, who, in addition to running some of the poker games, often fill a role they’re well known for in popular culture: settling debts.

    “Say you have someone who loses a lot of money,” says Zach Jensen, a content developer and mafia expert at Las Vegas’ Mob Museum. “Getting them to pay up, the mob can step in and do that. Extortion, intimidation, and violence too.”

    As Jensen explains it, the mob may not be anywhere near the size or power of its one-time might. It operates in a more under-the-radar manner today. But it’s still very active in many of its old tricks, and illegal gambling remains a big part of the picture.

    In fact, at least one name that appears in the Billups indictment has roots in the mafia’s glory days.

    “There’s an Angelo Ruggiero Jr. listed in there,” Jensen says. “His father, Angelo Ruggiero, also known as ‘Quack Quack,’ was a close friend of John Gotti and part of his crew.”

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    Ben Dowsett

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  • Alleged Gambino Enforcer Denied Bail

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    In the “Operation Royal Flush” case, prosecutors argue an alleged mob enforcer could intimidate witnesses if freed, while another defendant pleads not guilty

    A federal magistrate judge on Tuesday denied bond for an alleged Gambino crime family associate charged in a sprawling illegal poker and sports betting probe dubbed “Operation Royal Flush.”

    In a hearing in the Eastern District of New York, Magistrate Judge Joseph Marutollo rejected a hefty $5 million bond package for Angelo Ruggiero Jr., ruling that his history of violent conduct and witness tampering made him too great a risk for release. Ruggiero’s attorney, James Frocarro, argued that his client was involved in a “gambling case,” and nothing more.

    Prosecutors argued that Ruggiero, who previously served time for conspiracy to commit murder while incarcerated, has a “well-documented history” of using intimidation to obstruct justice with a witness tampering conviction. The government also cited his alleged role within the Gambino organized crime family and his close proximity to high-level members of the family. 

    Froccaro pointed out that Ruggiero’s witness tampering conviction was almost entrapment, stating a known government witness was placed as Ruggiero’s cellmate in Georgia, possibly on purpose. Froccaro pointed out that, of course, his client wasn’t thrilled that a “rat” was his new roommate. “Did they expect him to give him a kiss?” Froccaro quipped.

    Federal prosecutors warned that if released, Ruggiero could “resort to the same witness-tampering methods” that marked his prior case. Froccaro argued that Ruggiero had “five million reasons not to violate the bail agreement,” noting that pretrial services even agreed to the proposed bail package. He also pointed out that additional defendants, like Joseph Lanni, had previously been released on bond. Lanni was alleged to have collected illicit proceeds from the rigged poker games on behalf of the Gambino network, while he’s awaiting sentencing in his own RICO case. Additionally, Defendant Lee Fama was recently released by Magistrate Judge James R. Cho, and Lanni was released by Magistrate Judge Taryn A. Merkl.

    Judge Marutollo took a five-minute recess after the oral arguments. He ultimately agreed with the prosecution, saying the defendant’s background “places him in a different category” than his co-defendants. The gallery was shocked. His lawyer, James Froccaro told Los Angeles exclusively, “I was very surprised by the ruling and we plan to appeal to the district court judge.”

    Scroll to continue reading

    Immediately following Ruggiero’s appearance, Curtis Meeks, another defendant charged in the same indictment, was arraigned before Judge Taryn Merkl. Meeks, who faces counts of money laundering and wire fraud, pleaded not guilty. His $250,000 bond, first set by the Western District of Texas, was transferred to New York. The court noted Meeks’ income may disqualify him from a court-appointed public defender (who was by his side), as Judge Merkl noted “it wasn’t small.” Meeks, a former boxer who now trains amateur boxers in Las Vegas, explained that due to a $15M judgment in another case, he is struggling financially. Meeks was separately accused by the media of running a game involving former NFL star Antonio Gates, though Gates is not named in the indictment and has publicly denied any involvement. “Meeks is one of the biggest poker cheats in the country. He’s been doing stuff like this for years,” Jeff Nadu, host of The Sit Down Podcast and Mob Expert, tells Los Angeles. “No one was surprised to hear his name. I went and sought out multiple poker players, mostly high level, and they all told me the same thing about him. He also knows a lot about the rigged card shuffler technology.” Meeks is still innocent until proven guilty.

    The sweeping, unsealed indictment accuses more than 30 defendants (including NBA’s Chauncey Billies and Damon Jones) of running high-stakes underground poker and sports-betting operations that used rigged shuffling machines and money laundering fronts across multiple states. Federal authorities say the operation was protected through threats and violence. A status hearing for the defendants is set for November 24th in Brooklyn federal court.

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    Lauren Conlin

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  • Donald Trump’s Truth Social Is Launching a Polymarket Competitor

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    “If you had to point to one reason [crypto prediction markets] are able to come back to the US, you have to point to the Trump administration,” says Zach Hamilton, founder of crypto startup Sarcophagus, in an interview with WIRED. “Donald Trump. I mean, that’s it.”

    Even before the arrival of Truth Predict, the Trump family had a financial interest in the spread of prediction markets in the US.

    In January, Donald Trump Jr. joined Kalshi as a strategic adviser. Then, in August, Polymarket received an investment from 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm where Trump Jr. serves as a partner. As part of the deal, Trump Jr. joined Polymarket’s advisory board.

    The ties between the Trump family and Polymarket, forged just as Polymarket was seeking reentry into the US, have drawn scrutiny from critics who claim the investment could amount to a conflict of interest. The deal creates an opportunity, they allege, for the Trump family to profit from changes in policy instigated by the Trump administration.

    “No one is saying members of the president’s family cannot engage in normal capitalist activities in a capitalist country,” says Jeff Hauser, executive director at the Revolving Door Project, an organization that seeks to scrutinize the behavior of elected officials. “But Polymarket is the subject of heated political controversy. As such, the investment reflects a significant conflict of interest—and an avoidable one.”

    “Neither the president nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest,” says White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a statement to WIRED.

    Polymarket, TMTG and 1789 Capital did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

    The Truth Predict launch also tees up a scenario in which separate facets of the Trump family’s business empire could effectively compete against one another.

    “From a venture capital perspective, many of us don’t like to invest in competing projects. We try to avoid that,” says Chris Perkins, managing partner at crypto VC firm CoinFund. “We try to identify category winners.”

    Already, businesses connected to the Trump family are operating competing bitcoin treasuries. In June, a dispute broke out over which corporate entities were permitted to launch an “official” Trump-branded crypto wallet.

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    Joel Khalili

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  • FBI Blows Lid Off NBA Betting and Illegal Poker Scandal – Houston Press

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    During football season around these here parts (and really, almost any part of America), it’s hard for a sports story, outside of the NFL, to cut through on a relevance and intrigue level. It’s exceedingly difficult. So kudos to the FBI, the New York mob, and a handful of current and former NBA luminaries for their key roles in the two-pronged gambling scandal that the government unveiled last week!

    In case you missed it, last week the FBI announced over 30 arrests in a massive investigation that blew the lid off of two illegal scams. First, current Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was the big name in an inside information and game rigging scam that goes back a couple years. On multiple occasions, Rozier removed himself from games after just a few minutes so the “under” would hit on his individual player prop bets. This is an inferno for NBA commissioner Adam Silver, whose sport’s integrity is at stake in scandals like this.

    Second, the FBI announced a slew of arrests, several of which were reputed New York mob soldiers, involving illegal poker games. Taking this one a step further, not only were the games themselves illegal, but they were fixed, as the hosts of the games had electronic information on the hands of the “regular people” at the tables.

    Compounding things for Silver is that there is a tie to the NBA with the poker games, as Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and former player and coach (and current close friend of LeBron James) Damon Jones were paid thousands to appear at these games in order to attract clientele to want to play cards with celebs. Both reportedly knew about the cheating going on at the tables.

    This story feels like it’s just beginning. Reportedly, there are indictments coming down on people associated with college basketball engaging in similar conduct to Rozier at the NBA level. To be clear, I have a morbid fascination with stories like this. 

    With that in mind, here are the five craziest things from this still unfolding story: 

    1. After the March 23, 2023 game where Rozier pulled himself from the game nine minutes in, the co-conspirators went and got their $200,000 in winnings, and came back to Rozier’s house with the money in tow. The parties involved, including Rozier, then proceeded to count the cash in Rozier’s kitchen. What a visual this is! Please, tell me they used one of those cash counting shuffle machines, as they wrapped up stacks and stacks of cash.

    2. In addition to playing in the illegal poker games, Billups appears to have passed along inside information to gambling co-conspirators. In the court documents, there is a “Co-conspirator 8” on the sports betting charges, who is listed as a former player and current coach. It has to be Billups. Reportedly, he told bettors that the Blazers would be tanking games for better draft position late in March 2023. This should be the lead part of this story — an NBA head coach is in cahoots with gamblers, passing along inside information. 

    3. Most Houstonians may know Damon Jones from his time as a Univeristy of Houston Cougar in the mid ’90s. In the 2000s, he befriended LeBron James when the two played for the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 2022-2023, Jones had an unofficial position with the Lakers, essentially as L:eBron’s personal ball shagger, more or less. Like Billups, Jones was sharing inside information from the Lakers, specifically letting bettors know that James would be missing a game in February 2023 for load management, before the market knew. Bettors cleaned up by betting against the Lakers in a loss to the Bucks.

    4. The technology in these illegal poker games is mind boggling. Check this out — shuffling machines that could read the cards in the deck, poker chip trays with hidden cameras, special contact lenses and glasses that could read pre-marked cards, and an X-ray table that could read cards facedown on the table. Here is what the cards looked like through the shades and contact lenses.

    The lesson here — never play poker with people wearing shades, especially in the greater New York area! 

    5. Speaking of which, isn’t it awesome to have the mob back in our lives? I thought the “five families” were the stuff of mythology these days, like Zeus and centaurs and such. Nope! They’re very much alive! So welcome back to the Bonanno, Gambino, Luchese, and Genovese families. Too bad The Sopranos is no longer around, because you know we’d be getting a massive sports betting and rigged poker storyline next season. 

    I promise you, we will keep following this story. And by “we,” I mean “me.” THAT is something you can go bet on, and take it to the bank! 

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    Sean Pendergast

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  • “What Did Anyone Think Was Going to Happen?”: The NBA Gambling Scandal Hiding in Plain Sight

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    The brick row house sits just steps from Washington Square Park, in plain view of any passersby from New York University. In 2021, it was rented, the New York Post reported in its wall-to-wall coverage of an unmissable sports betting spectacle, to Travis Scott over the period when he was dating Kylie Jenner—a glancing connection that suggested no wrongdoing. It was not a New York landmark, exactly, but in its simultaneous accessibility and status, it brought out some essential, familiar character of its monied Greenwich Village vicinity.

    As federal prosecutors claimed in an indictment unsealed on Thursday, the building was later where “Flappy,” “the Wrestler,” and “Juice,” among other evocatively nicknamed alleged members of the Bonanno, Gambino, Lucchese, and Genovese New York mafia families, assembled to carry out a Hollywood-ready scheme that rigged poker games with card-reading contact lenses and X-ray tables and used the attendance of an active NBA coach, Chauncey Billups, as bait for their marks. In a separate but simultaneous indictment, prosecutors alleged that an active and a former player, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones, provided insider information on NBA games to bettors and, in Rozier’s case, manipulated his performance to the gambler’s benefit. (All the defendants in the two cases—which include Billups, Rozier, Jones, and alleged organized-crime affiliates—who have entered a plea thus far have pleaded not guilty on fraud, money laundering, extortion, and gambling charges.)

    Perhaps, as alleged, the set-up was even stranger than fiction, a relic from a bygone era when Gottis in courthouses dominated the tabloid pages, or when betting scandals rocked professional baseball several times over.

    And yet, in some sense, the alleged behavior was taking place right under our noses. Vanity Fair spoke with veterans of the gambling and mafia underworlds to help situate the relative absurdity—and predictability—of the scandal that has ricocheted across sports, business, and politics.

    The new sports gambling landscape

    “What did anyone think was going to happen?” New York sports radio host Craig Carton asked me on Friday.

    Carton’s career as a leading local drive time personality was upended in 2017 when he was arrested for running a ticket reselling Ponzi-like scheme in order to cover millions of dollars in gambling debts. He was sentenced to 42 months of prison for fraud, ultimately serving about a year, at what was a fairly quaint time by the standards of today’s gambling industry.

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    Dan Adler

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  • Gambling Probe Tests The Resilience That Helped Chauncey Billups Soar To The Basketball Hall Of Fame – KXL

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    DETROIT (AP) — Chauncey Billups earned a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame a year ago, recognizing his resilience and clutch play in a championship-winning NBA career.

    His ability to bounce back and make all the right moves is being put to an entirely different test by a gambling scandal.

    Billups, who was placed on leave as coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, was one of more than 30 people arrested last week for what federal law enforcement officials described as their involvement in various illicit gambling activities. The coach was alleged to have participated in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes poker games with ties to three Mafia families. He also matches the credentials of someone described only as Co-Conspirator 8 in an indictment detailing how some people gave bettors inside information on player health statuses.

    “My message to the defendants who’ve been rounded up today is this: Your winning streak has ended,” Joseph Nocella, the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, said in outlining the charges.

    Billups’ alleged involvement was stunning for someone with a sterling reputation, earning the NBA’s sportsmanship award in 2009 while playing for his hometown Denver Nuggets.

    Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, who calls Billups his best friend, said he spoke with Billups on the day he was arrested and was encouraged by what he heard during the conversation.

    Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said he hates to see what Billups is going through as a friend he has had since middle school.

    “I think everyone needs to allow due process to happen, and then obviously judgments can be made,” Bickerstaff said on Sunday. “You feel for anyone you’ve known and have a relationship with and know his family well.

    “I know he’s going through it,” he added. “It’s a difficult time for him.”

    ‘Pressure is nothing new to me’
    Billups, who is married and has three daughters, was arrested at his home in Oregon before dawn last Thursday. Hours earlier, the Trail Blazers lost their season opener at home to Minnesota. After tipping off his fifth season in Portland, Billups was asked if he felt pressure because the franchise’s new ownership group attended the game.

    “That pressure thing is nothing to me, man,” Billups said in his last public comments on Oct. 22. “I do the best I can and let the chips fall where they may. You know that about me by now.”

    Billups appeared before a judge in Oregon, and was released from custody on conditions. His attorney, Chris Heywood, denied the allegations.

    “To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his Hall of Fame legacy, his reputation and his freedom,” Heywood said. “He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.”

    The 49-year-old Billups grew up in Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood and starred in college for the Colorado Buffaloes.

    Boston drafted him No. 3 overall in 1997 and he bounced around the league, getting traded during his rookie year twice more over the next two years.

    Billups signed with Minnesota in 2000 as a free agent and after two solid seasons, he leveraged his value to sign a $35 million, six-year contract with the Pistons.

    Billups was known as Mr. Big Shot
    He was known as Mr. Big Shot because of his knack of making clutch shots in the Motor City, where he found his groove as a player and later had his No. 1 Pistons jersey retired as one of the most popular players in any sport in Michigan.

    Billups guided Detroit to its third NBA championship in 2004 and the NBA Finals the following year during a run of six straight appearances in the Eastern Conference finals.

    The Pistons later traded him to Denver for his second stint with the franchise. After Billups went on to play for the New York Knicks and Clippers, he closed his five-time All-Star career in Detroit during the 2013-14 season with more than $100 million in earnings.

    Billups started his career as a TV analyst the next year, a role he gave up to pursue a coaching career with the Clippers under Lue. He was hired as Portland’s coach in 2021 and signed a multi-year extension with the Trail Blazers last April and has a career 117-212 record as an coach in the league.

    The NBA, in reaction to the arrests of Billups and Miami guard Terry Rozier for their alleged role in gambling schemes, has started a review of how the league can protect not just the integrity of the game but its players and coaches as well.

    The league made those revelations in a memo sent to all 30 teams, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

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    Jordan Vawter

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  • Poker’s NBA-and-Mafia betting scandal echoes movie games, and cheats, from ‘Ocean’s’ to ‘Rounders’

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    LOS ANGELES (AP) — The stakes. The famous faces. The posh private rooms. The clever cheating schemes.

    The federal indictment of a big-money poker ring involving NBA figures on Thursday, in which unsuspecting rich players were allegedly enticed to join then cheated of their money, echoed decades of movies and television, and not just because of the alleged Mafia involvement.

    Fictional and actual poker have long been in sort of a pop-cultural feedback loop. When authorities described the supposed circumstances of the games, they might’ve evoked a run of screen moments from recent decades.

    Poker in ‘Ocean’s Eleven,’ ‘Molly’s Game’ and ‘The Sopranos’

    A 2004 episode of “ The Sopranos ” showed a very similar mix of celebrities and mobsters in a New York game whose players included Van Halen singer David Lee Roth and football Hall-of-Famer Lawrence Taylor, both playing themselves.

    In 2001’s “Ocean’s Eleven,” George Clooney finds his old heist buddy Brad Pitt running a poker game for “Teen Beat” cover boys including Topher Grace and Joshua Jackson, also playing themselves. Clooney spontaneously teams with Pitt to con them. And the plot of the 2007 sequel “Ocean’s Thirteen” centers on the high-tech rigging of casino games.

    Asked about the relevance of the films to the NBA scandal, which came soon after a story out of Paris that could’ve come straight out of “Ocean’s Twelve,” Clooney told The Associated Press with a laugh that “we get blamed for everything now.”

    “‘Cause we also got compared to the Louvre heist. Which, I think, you gotta CGI me into that basket coming out of the Louvre,” Clooney said Thursday night at the Los Angeles premiere of his new film, “Jay Kelly.” He was referring to thieves using a basket lift to steal priceless Napoleonic jewels from the museum.

    2017’s “Molly’s Game,” and the real-life memoir from Molly Bloom that it was based on, could almost serve as manuals for how to build a poker game’s allure for desirable “fish” in the same ways and with the same terminology that the organizers indicted Thursday allegedly used.

    The draw of Bloom’s games at hip Los Angeles club The Viper Room were not NBA players, but Hollywood players like Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and “The Hangover” director Todd Phillips. (None of them were accused of any wrongdoing.)

    In the movie written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, Bloom, played by Jessica Chastain, describes the way a famous actor acts as an attractor for other players, the same way officials said Thursday that NBA “face cards” did for the newly indicted organizers.

    The unnamed actor, played by Michael Cera, was at least partly based on the “Spider-Man” star Maguire.

    “People wanted to say they played with him,” Chastain says. “The same way they wanted to say they rode on Air Force One. My job security was gonna depend on bringing him his fish.”

    In her book, Bloom described the allure for the players she drew.

    “The formula of keeping pros out, inviting in celebrities and other interesting and important people, and even the mystique of playing in the private room of the Viper Room added up to one of the most coveted invitations in town,” she writes, later adding that “I just needed to continue feeding it new, rich blood; and to be strategic about how to fill those ten precious seats.”

    Bloom would get caught up in a broad 2013 nationwide crackdown on high-stakes private poker games, probably the highest profile poker bust in years before this week. She got a year’s probation, a $1,000 fine, and community service.

    There were no accusations of rigging at her game, but that didn’t make it legal.

    The legality of private-space poker games has been disputed for decades and widely varies among U.S. states. But in general, they tend to bring attention and prosecution when the host is profiting the way that a casino would.

    A brief history of movies making poker cool

    Poker — and cheating at it — has run through movies, especially Westerns, from their silent beginnings.

    Prominent poker scenes feature in 1944’s “Tall in the Saddle” with John Wayne and 1950’s “The Gunfighter” with Gregory Peck.

    “The Cincinnati Kid” in 1965 was dedicated entirely to poker — with Steve McQueen bringing his unmatched cool to the title character.

    A pair of movies co-starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman really raised the game’s profile, though.

    In the opening scene of 1969’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,’ a hyper-cool Redford is playing poker and refuses to leave until another player takes back a cheating accusation.

    In 1973’s Best Picture Oscar winner “The Sting,” 1930s con-men Newman and Redford seek revenge against a big fish and run a series of increasingly bold gambling scams that could’ve come from Thursday’s indictments. Newman out-cheats the man at poker to set him up for the big con, a phony radio horse race.

    The 1980s saw a dip in screen poker, with the subject largely relegated to the TV “Gambler” movies, starring Kenny Rogers, based on his hit song.

    But the end of the decade brought a poker boomlet from the increased legalization of commercial games.

    Then, at possibly the perfect moment, came “Rounders.” The 1998 Matt Damon film did for Texas Hold ’em what “Sideways” did for pinot noir and “Pitch Perfect” did for a cappella: it took an old and popular phenomenon and made them widespread crazes.

    Soon after came explosive growth in online poker, whose players often sought out big face-to-face games. And the development of cameras that showed players’ cards — very similar to the tech allegedly used to cheat players, according to the new indictments — made poker a TV spectator sport.

    The “Ocean’s” films and the general mystique they brought piled on too.

    Clooney, talking about the broader set of busts Thursday that included alleged gambling on basketball itself, pointed out that his Cincinnati Reds were the beneficiaries of sport’s most infamous gambling scandal, the 1919 “Black Sox” and the fixing of the World Series, “so I have great guilt for that.”

    “But you know there — we’ve never had a moment in our history that we didn’t have some dumb scandal or something crazy,” he said. “I feel very bad for the gambling scandal ’cause this was on the night that, you know, we had some amazing basketball happen.”

    —-

    Associated Press writer Leslie Ambriz contributed to this report.

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  • NBA commissioner

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    NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, in his first public comments since the arrests of Portland coach Chauncey Billups and Miami guard Terry Rozier on gambling-related charges, said Friday night that he was stunned by the indictments that have rocked the league.

    “My initial reaction was I was deeply disturbed,” Silver said on Amazon Prime Video, during the streaming service’s first broadcast — Boston at New York. “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.”

    Such was a sentiment shared by many around the league on Friday, one day after the indictments were unsealed and nearly three dozen people — most notably, Billups and Rozier — were arrested by federal officials.

    Rozier was arrested because federal officials allege he conspired with associates to help them win bets based on his statistical performance. The charges are similar to what former Toronto player Jontay Porter faced before he was banned from the league by Silver in 2024.

    Rozier’s attorney, James Trusty, told CBS News in a statement Thursday that Rozier had been characterized as a subject, not a target, of investigators, but then “at 6 a.m. this morning they called to tell me FBI agents were trying to arrest him in a hotel.” Trusty accused federal prosecutors of wanting “the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk.”

    Billups faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering for participating in what federal officials called Mafia-backed, rigged poker games. He also matches the credentials of someone described only as Co-Conspirator 8 in an indictment detailing how some people gave bettors inside information on player health statuses.

    In a statement provided to CBS News Thursday night, an attorney for Billups wrote that “to believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his hall-of-fame legacy, his reputation, and his freedom. He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game. Billups has never and would never gamble on basketball games, provide insider information, or sacrifice the trust of his team and the League, as it would tarnish the game he has devoted his entire life to.”

    The arrests have overshadowed the opening week around the league.

    “I apologize to our fans that we are all dealing with this situation,” Silver said during the in-game interview.

    The Rozier case has gone on since March 23, 2023. He was with the Charlotte Hornets at that time, and sportsbooks — legal ones — alerted the NBA to irregular patterns involving Rozier’s “prop bets” that day. Rozier went on to play about 9 1/2 minutes, and those who bet that he would underperform the listed stat lines won those wagers. Federal officials said more than $200,000 was bet on those lines alone.

    The NBA investigated and found no reason to sanction Rozier, Silver said.

    “We frankly couldn’t find anything,” Silver said. “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 behavior to move forward.

    “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.”

    Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue calls Billups his best friend and said the news was difficult to take. He said he spoke with Billups on Thursday night and was encouraged by what he heard.

    “To go through something like this, the allegations, his family, my goddaughters, it was a tough day,” Lue said. “You never want to see your friends go through anything like that.”

    Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers started in the NBA as a player more than 40 years ago. He’s seen plenty of good and bad. He thought he had heard it all. That is, until now.

    “It’s really sad,” Rivers said Friday.

    Along with Billups and Rozier, former NBA player Damon Jones now faces charges because officials said he tipped off bettors about the health 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.

    “We see now what those things can turn into and how they can spread, just how valuable this information is,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “It’s a difficult situation overall but once you introduce gambling that the sports world has now, there’s going to be some very dangerous situations out there for everybody — from a security standpoint, from this type of thing standpoint.”

    All teams are required by the NBA to educate players, coaches and staff annually about what is allowed and not allowed when it comes to gambling. The Orlando Magic met recently about that very topic.

    And then after the news Thursday, they met again.

    “Yesterday was another reminder of what we have to do,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We had another conversation with the group. I think the more that is going on, the more we have to continue to talk to the group about what is happening.”

    The league has at least 14 relationships with sportsbooks, including FanDuel and DraftKings. Some teams have their own deals as well. Silver has often spoken of how legal betting can be monitored and how unusual patterns can be flagged immediately, part of the reason why the league believes the integrity of games can be protected.

    But some coaches and players still believe more can be done.

    “The league, the game and the business of the league has evolved. And so we just have to be aware of how things evolve in this business, right?” San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said. “It’s very important for us to continue to just be educated and mindful of everything that has to do with our business. … I believe in Adam Silver and the league, that they will do whatever is necessary to continue to grow the game in the right way.”

    Another issue for players and coaches is how social media has given bettors ways to communicate with those inside the league. Those interactions, many have said, are not always friendly.

    “The outside world, in my day, couldn’t get to us. They literally couldn’t get to us,” Rivers said Friday. “And now they can, with ease.”

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  • NBA dealing with fallout from gambling, sports rigging arrests

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    The NBA is now playing under a cloud of suspicion after arrests in sports rigging and illegal gambling probes. Chris Mannix, senior writer at Sports Illustrated, joins to discuss what he’s learned from his NBA sources. Then, Ethan Shackelford, a principal security consultant at IOActive, who has conducted extensive research into rigging casino card-shuffling machines, joins us to share his findings.

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  • NFL reminds players of league gambling policy in light of federal indictments

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    NEW YORK — The NFL reminded its players Friday that they are prohibited from taking part in any form of illegal gambling and betting on league games.

    In a memo obtained by The Associated Press, the league asked all 32 teams Friday to reiterate key aspects of its gambling policy and make the document readily available to players.

    “We all have a responsibility to protect the integrity of the Shield by ensuring that our game is played fairly, honestly and to the best of a player’s ability,” the NFL management council wrote in the memo. “NFL players must also take appropriate steps to safeguard the game against gambling-related risks that may undermine the confidence and trust of the fans.”

    The reminder followed an FBI investigation into illicit gambling activities resulted in the arrests of NBA coach Chauncey Billups of the Portland Trail Blazers, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and others.

    “These developments underscore the risks that all sports are facing in the current environment and serve as a reminder of the need to adhere strictly to the NFL gambling policy,” the NFL wrote.

    According to the NFL policy, players must not:

    —place any bet on NFL Football;

    —throw or fix any NFL game or event, or otherwise manipulate or attempt to manipulate any play or other aspect of an NFL game;

    —share confidential, non-public information regarding any NFL game, player or event with any third party.

    “That topic comes up every year,” Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “There’s a certain amount of presentations. It hits heavy. … Obviously, it hits the sports world and someone that’s a close friend of many of us, myself included, and you hate it. So, obviously, none of it’s worth it. … We’ve got to be pretty diligent on that.”

    The NFL Players Association sent a similar memo to players Friday pointing out that they should not bet on the NFL, gamble at the team facility or while traveling for a road game or staying at a team hotel, have someone bet for them, share “inside information,” enter a sportsbook during the NFL playing season except to access another part of the casino, or promote any form or gambling or any gambling entity.

    NFL players are allowed to legally place bets on other sports as long as they are off club property or not traveling with the team. They also are allowed to take part in traditional fantasy football leagues (prize money cannot exceed $250) and legally gamble at casinos on personal time.

    ___

    AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

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  • Experts Say Criminal Intent Will Be Key in Prosecuting NBA’s Billups and Rozier in Gambling Cases

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    NBA coach and Hall of Fame member Chauncey Billups is charged with luring high-stakes poker players to games he knew were fixed, while veteran NBA forward Terry Rozier is accused of faking an injury and sitting on the bench to help bettors win thousands of dollars in 2023.

    But do prosecutors have strong cases against them?

    Proving those separate cases in New York federal court will require evidence of criminal intent by the two, not just unflattering allegations, legal experts told The Associated Press after reviewing blockbuster indictments released Thursday.

    The indictment against Billups, 49, reads like a movie script, outlining how poker games were played on tables with hidden X-ray capability to read cards and rigged shuffling machines. The court document, however, doesn’t say how much money, if any, he pocketed or how he might have communicated with poker fixers.

    His lawyer has questioned why Billups — nicknamed Mr. Big Shot when he played for the Detroit Pistons — would risk it all when he was already a multimillionaire.

    Rozier, 30, left a game early against New Orleans late in the 2022-23 season and didn’t play again for Charlotte in the final eight games that followed. His attorney said Rozier confided in several people that he was genuinely injured.

    “The public needs to be aware: Having an indictment doesn’t mean there’s been a determination of guilt,” said attorney John Lauro, who represented a disgraced NBA referee in a gambling scandal in 2007.

    Here’s what lawyers say about the challenges for the government and the defense teams:

    By far the biggest name is Billups, a five-time All-Star as a player who just last year was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers is charged with taking part in high-stakes poker games that were fixed with sophisticated cheating devices to fleece unsuspecting gamblers out of millions.

    Not spelled out in the indictment is what evidence there is that Billups would have known the poker games were rigged, said former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner. “Even if he received money to help bring high-stakes people to the games, that’s not illegal” he said.

    What prosecutors must prove, Epner said, is that Billups knew the games were fixed and profited from being there.

    Former federal prosecutor Evan Gotlob suspects that investigators would have emails, text messages or even witnesses that connect Billups with the scheme.

    “When a white collar case like this takes a couple years to develop, they usually have cooperating witnesses. Or as the mob calls them, ‘snitches,’” said Gotlob, who now works on white-collar crime.

    The best evidence in these types of cases is communication between people, likely text messages, he said. “We may find out they had wiretaps,” he said.

    “They’re not going to charge someone like Chauncey Billups, a Hall of Fame player, unless they have a strong case,” Gotlob said. “You don’t want to ruin someone’s life without really good evidence.”

    One possible defense that Billups’ attorneys might pursue is to question why someone who’s made more than $100 million over his career and built a solid reputation would put it in jeopardy for a relatively small payout.

    “If he was living the high-life and still has a lot of money, that is a viable defense,” said Rocco Cipparone Jr., a New Jersey defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. “If he blew it all, it makes more sense.”


    Fake injury rained cash, feds say

    Rozier is accused of telling a friend that he would leave a game early in March 2023, nonpublic information that was spread to others who placed more than $250,000 in prop bets on his weak 5-point performance for the Charlotte Hornets and raked in winnings, according to the indictment.

    The court filing lists many unnamed co-conspirators who placed bets and could become key witnesses.

    “It’s going to make defense of the case much harder,” said Brian Legghio, a Detroit-area lawyer who represented a gambler in a University of Toledo basketball point-shaving scandal in 2006.

    Lauro said prosecutors typically try to build a conspiracy case around unindicted co-conspirators, people who have not been charged but admit wrongdoing.

    “A big part of that is to get the communications in (at trial) between the target defendant and the unindicted co-conspirators, more likely text messages,” Lauro explained. “The government clearly is loading up.”

    But Lauro said he wouldn’t be discouraged.

    Text messages, the New York defense lawyer added, are “not necessarily clear on their face and you don’t always have a full context.”

    The indictment says Rozier’s boyhood pal, Deniro Laster, used text messages to share information with others about the player’s plan to leave the game. In exchange, the indictment states, Laster would get a cut of the winnings.

    Anyone wagering that Rozier would perform under the scoring line set by oddsmakers was in the green.

    Laster drove to Rozier’s home in Charlotte, North Carolina, and together they “counted the money” a week later in the early morning hours, the indictment says. The document doesn’t say that Rozier got a cut.

    “When you go into that level of detail, prosecutors could know because someone in the room knew it. It sure is a sign of strength,” said Steve Dollear, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago.

    Defense attorney Jim Trusty said Rozier was cleared during an earlier NBA investigation.

    “That has no evidentiary value,” Lauro said. “As a defense lawyer or as a prosecutor, I really wouldn’t care what the NBA did.”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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