NBA officials are planning to take a step back and review what the league labeled “dire risks” gambling can have on players and their careers, according a memo sent to all 30 teams on Monday.
Changes under consideration include timing and release of injury information and applying artificial intelligence models to flag irregular or concerning betting activity.
The memo published in part by multiple media outlets underlined the concern commissioner Adam Silver stated after a federal indictment detailed eight NBA games flagged by sportsbooks and investigators for unusual activity. Most were tied to player performance wagers or prop bets projecting category-based production for individuals. Feds also flagged instances of co-conspirators placing wagers on a team or game using privileged information.
Heat guard Terry Rozier is at the center of the indictment revealed last week in Brooklyn. He was cleared by the NBA after a 2023 investigation into his ties to purported gambling activity and intentionally underperforming to assist a gambling ring make profits on prop bets.
The NBA said in its Monday memo that work had begun to diligently enhance real-time monitoring, noting sportsbooks were able to flag the excessive activity well before Rozier took the court and played just nine minutes in one game in March 2023. The game in question prompted federal investigators to dig further.
The league has only deepened ties with betting and gambling promotions as legalization of sports betting has spread on a state-by-state basis throughout the United States.
Following an offseason in which media rights agreements shifted from traditional partners, the NBA league site touts “further integrations with FanDuel and Fanatics, as well as other digital and connected TV partners, will roll out during the season.”
Sportsbooks have sponsorships and stadium agreements with multiple NBA teams. Betway is the official sportsbook of the Heat.
In the memo, the league says: “While the unusual betting on Terry Rozier’s ‘unders’ in the March 2023 game was detected in real time because the bets were placed legally, we believe there is more that can be done from a legal/regulatory perspective to protect the integrity of the NBA and our affiliated leagues. In particular, proposition bets on individual player performance involve heightened integrity concerns and require additional scrutiny.”
Blazers coach Chauncey Billups was arrested in Oregon and tied to a vast organized crime ring running illegal high-stakes poker games, allegedly employing technology to rig hands to the benefit of his co-conspirators.
Silver said last week in his first comments on the matter that he was “deeply disturbed” by the allegations.
NBA league policy prohibits team and league officials from sports betting. Players and employees of the league and teams are also banned from sharing information that isn’t available to the public.
Billups was also accused in last week’s indictment of informing a bettor of the Blazers’ intentions to “tank” in at least one NBA regular-season game during his time as head coach in Portland.
“With sports betting now occupying such a significant part of the current sports landscape, every effort must be made to ensure that players, coaches and other NBA personnel are fully aware of the dire risks that gambling can impose upon their careers and livelihoods; that our injury disclosure rules are appropriate; and that players are protected from harassment from bettors,” the NBA memo reads.
Congress has requested a response from Silver. A bipartisan group of six representatives serving the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce requested a briefing from Silver in a letter on Monday.
