Get ready for more sports betting scandals.
On Thursday, the FBI arrested two current members of the NBA — Miami Heat player Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups — as part of a long-term investigation into illegal sports betting and poker schemes. Billups’ charge wasn’t basketball-related. Former NBA player Damon Jones was also charged.
“Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight,” Rozier’s lawyer said in a statement.
Sports betting scandals have been occurring for over a century, but researchers say they could become more prevalent if US gambling restrictions continue to loosen.
“This is the tip of the iceberg — and the inevitable outcome when you rampantly legalize sports wagering,” said Lia Nower, the director of Rutgers’ Center for Gambling Studies.
Next month will see another move in that direction, as the NCAA lifts its restriction on college athletes betting on pro sports.
“The more accessible, the more acceptable gambling becomes, the more people actually do it,” Nower said.
Nower said high-risk problem gambling was three times more common in places where sports betting was legal than the national average of about 2%, citing research on New Jersey from her and her colleagues that was published in 2023.
Sports betting began to ramp up on a state-by-state basis after the US Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that a nationwide ban on sports gambling was unconstitutional. There have been several high-profile scandals since, including former NBA player Jontay Porter being banned for life from the league in 2024.
Young people — particularly young men — are especially at risk for problem gambling. The Rutgers researchers found that 19% of all 18- to 24-year-olds had a high risk of developing a gambling problem. College athletes, who will soon be allowed to bet on pro sports, are squarely in that demographic. (The NCAA banned three college basketball players last month for sports betting and is also investigating 13 former hoopers.)
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“Once people start to develop problems, they gamble on everything,” Nower said.
She said that some college athletes would be tempted to bet on what they know best: college sports. And if college athletes get hooked on pro sports betting and then make it to the majors themselves, they could continue to wager on their sports, though it would be against league regulations.
It’s no secret that sports betting companies are targeting college-aged men, said Shane Kraus, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who’s the director of its Behavioral Addictions Lab.
“Look at the type of ads, who they’re sending ads to — they’re not sending them to grandma and grandpa in their 80s,” Kraus said.
The ocean of money in sports betting right now will likely lead to more gambling scandals, Kraus and Nower said.
Another wrinkle is the increased popularity of “prop” bets, where gamblers can craft player-specific wagers that athletes could influence more easily than the outcome of a game.
Once problem gambling develops, loan sharks, or those in organized crime, can enter the picture. For college athletes, there are also temptations that are seemingly less nefarious but can still lead to scandal, such as getting friends to bet on their behalf to circumvent rules.
“All of this is completely foreseeable,” Nower said of how problem gambling can turn into a sports betting scandal. “It’s like watching a car crash.”
