The NBA betting scandal that broke on October 23, 2025, was the largest integrity case in professional basketball history. Thirty-four people were arrested across 11 states following a multi-year FBI and NYPD investigation into two separate illegal gambling operations. FBI Director Kash Patel called it “a wide sweeping criminal enterprise that envelops both the NBA and La Cosa Nostra.”
Three NBA figures were at the center: Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, and former player and assistant coach Damon Jones, who was charged in both indictments. Smart Bet Insider covers NBA betting analysis, integrity news, and odds breakdowns throughout the season.
An Overview of the Events
On October 23, 2025, the FBI and NYPD’s Joint Organized Crime Task Force announced the results of an investigation that had been running since 2023. 34 people were arrested across 11 states in a single morning. The charges spanned two separate but connected criminal operations, one targeting insider prop bet manipulation tied to active NBA players, the other targeting Mafia-run rigged poker games in which former NBA figures served as the public face.
The investigation had been quietly building since unusual betting activity tied to Terry Rozier surfaced in March 2023. The NBA conducted its own inquiry, met with Rozier multiple times, and ultimately cleared him. Federal investigators kept going.
By the time arrests were announced, prosecutors had identified at least seven NBA games under scrutiny, linked four of the five major American Mafia families to the operation, and assembled a case involving current players, former coaches, organized crime figures, and a betting syndicate stretching across more than a decade of activity.
The scandal did not emerge in isolation. It was a direct continuation of the 2024 Jontay Porter investigation, which had first exposed how easily player prop markets could be manipulated from the inside. Porter’s lifetime ban and guilty plea cracked open a much larger network than investigators initially anticipated.
The Two Indictments
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York unsealed two indictments on October 23, 2025.
The first covered insider sports betting. Prosecutors alleged that current and former NBA players obtained non-public injury information and distributed it through a betting network between December 2022 and March 2024. At least seven games fell under scrutiny. Terry Rozier and Damon Jones were among those charged.
The second covered rigged poker games. Defendants including Billups and Jones were accused of helping Mafia crime families run high-stakes underground games using X-ray tables, rigged shuffling machines, and glasses designed to see marked cards. The scheme netted more than $7.15 million from victims dating back to April 2019.
Who Was Involved
Terry Rozier was the only active NBA player named. Prosecutors alleged that in March 2023, while with the Charlotte Hornets, Rozier told childhood friend De’Niro Laster he would fake an injury and exit a game early. Laster sold that information to gamblers, who distributed it through a betting syndicate. Sportsbooks received over $200,000 in wagers on Rozier’s prop unders that night. He played 10 minutes before leaving with a foot injury.
Rozier pleaded not guilty in December 2025 and was released on $3 million bond. The Heat subsequently waived him. Prosecutors later announced plans to file additional charges alleging he solicited and received a bribe.
Chauncey Billups was a Hall of Famer inducted in 2024 and head coach of the Trail Blazers at the time of his arrest. The poker indictment identified him as a “face card,” used to attract victims to rigged games because of his status as a former professional athlete. He was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, pleaded not guilty in November 2025, and was suspended by the Trail Blazers with Tiago Splitter serving as interim coach.
Damon Jones was the only defendant charged in both indictments. The sports betting indictment alleged he leaked injury information about LeBron James before a February 2023 Lakers game and about Anthony Davis before a January 2024 game while acting as an unofficial Lakers coach.
On April 28, 2026, Jones became the first defendant to plead guilty, admitting to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He stated in court: “I conspired with others to defraud sports betting companies, using insider information that I obtained as a result of my relationships as a former player.”
The Connection to Jontay Porter
The 2025 arrests were a direct extension of the investigation that began with the 2024 Jontay Porter case. Porter received a lifetime NBA ban in April 2024 after faking injuries so co-conspirators could profit on his player prop unders. Two defendants named in the 2025 poker indictment had also appeared in the Porter case. Federal investigators kept pushing on NBA-connected betting activity after Porter’s guilty plea, and the 2025 sweep was the result.
What the NBA Changed
In response to the Porter scandal, the NBA eliminated prop bets for players on two-way and 10-day contracts before the 2025-26 season. The league also moved up injury reporting timelines on game days and pushed sportsbooks to restrict the types and volume of individual player prop bets available.
Both Rozier and Billups were placed on immediate leave the day of their arrests. The involvement of four of the five leading Mafia families, described by prosecutors as a “mind-boggling” level of organized crime penetration, made clear the league’s existing integrity infrastructure had not been built to handle a threat at this scale.
If you want to bet NBA games with a full view of the legal landscape and current odds, Smart Bet Insider covers the NBA betting picture throughout the season.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the 2025 NBA betting scandal?
On October 23, 2025, 34 people were arrested across 11 states in connection with two federal indictments targeting illegal NBA-related gambling. One indictment covered insider prop bet manipulation by current and former NBA players. The other covered Mafia-backed rigged poker games. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, and former player Damon Jones were the three NBA figures at the center of the arrests.
What did Terry Rozier do?
Rozier was accused of telling a childhood friend in advance that he would fake an injury and exit a March 2023 game early, allowing associates to place over $200,000 in bets on his prop unders. He played 10 minutes before leaving with a foot injury. Rozier pleaded not guilty in December 2025, was released on $3 million bond, and was subsequently waived by the Miami Heat.
What was Chauncey Billups charged with?
Billups was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in connection with Mafia-backed rigged poker games. The indictment identified him as a “face card” used to lure victims because of his profile as a former professional athlete. The scheme netted more than $7.15 million from victims. Billups pleaded not guilty in November 2025 and was suspended by the Trail Blazers.
Who was Damon Jones and what did he plead guilty to?
Damon Jones was a former NBA player and assistant coach charged in both indictments. The sports betting indictment alleged he leaked injury information about LeBron James and Anthony Davis while acting as an unofficial Lakers coach. On April 28, 2026, he became the first defendant to plead guilty, admitting to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for using insider player information to defraud sportsbooks.
How did the 2025 scandal connect to Jontay Porter?
The 2025 arrests grew out of the federal investigation that began with the 2024 Jontay Porter case, in which the Raptors player received a lifetime NBA ban for faking injuries to help co-conspirators profit on prop bets. Two defendants in the 2025 poker indictment had also been named in the Porter case, and investigators continued pushing on NBA-connected betting activity after Porter’s guilty plea.