Members of Congress wrote to NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Friday, asking him to offer a briefing by October 31 regarding the gambling scandal that engulfed the league earlier this week.
Sent by a bipartisan group of six representatives on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the letter calls on Silver to additional clarify the NBA’s relationship with sports activities betting to “assist the Committee in its oversight.”
The committee’s intervention got here the day after Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former NBA journeyman Damon Jones have been named amongst 34 individuals indicted in reference to two separate federal gambling investigations introduced by the Eastern District of New York.
The letter lists 5 factors for Silver to deal with, asking him to elucidate additional particulars in regards to the “alleged betting practices in connection with NBA players, coaches and officials,” in addition to the actions the league intends to take to restrict inside info getting used for “illegal purposes.”
It additionally requested Silver to judge whether or not the league’s present code of conduct for gamers and coaches “effectively prohibits illegal activity,” and description “whether and how the NBA is reevaluating the terms of its partnerships with sports betting companies.” The league has partnership offers with betting firms DraftKings and FanDuel.
As for extra strictly policing sports activities betting, the committee requested Silver to determine any gaps in “existing regulations that allow illegal betting schemes to occur.”
For instance, it referenced Silver’s look on “The Pat McAfee Show” Tuesday by which he stated, “I wish there was federal legislation rather than state by state,” and added that “we’ve asked some of our partners to pull back some of the prop bets.”
NCS has reached out to the NBA for remark.
Silver, in his first public feedback on the scandal on Friday, stated he had “a pit in his stomach” when he heard the information.
“My initial reaction was I was deeply disturbed,” he instructed broadcaster Amazon Prime Video in the course of the Boston Celtics’ sport in opposition to the New York Knicks. “There’s nothing more important to the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition… It was very upsetting.”
The allegations, the committee famous, “raise serious concerns about sports betting and the integrity of sport in the NBA, which harms fans and legal sports bettors,” prompting it to imagine its oversight position.
Billups, the Portland head coach since 2021, is charged in an elaborate, mafia-linked scheme by which marks have been lured to take part in rigged poker video games partially with the chance to play alongside the NBA five-time All-Star in addition to Jones.
Rozier, who was arrested in an Orlando resort, was alleged to take part in a game-fixing scheme that included prop bets on his availability.
Jones, who retired from taking part in in 2012, is certainly one of three individuals to be charged in each instances.
Jim Trusty, Rozier’s legal professional, strongly disputed the accusations, saying prosecutors characterised Rozier as a topic of their investigation and never a goal. An legal professional for Billups denied the allegations. NCS has reached out to Jones’ representatives however has not heard again.
Despite focusing on the most recent allegations, the letter additionally famous that “illegal sports betting based on non-public information in the NBA is not a new problem,” citing the instances of former referee Tim Donaghy in 2007 and Toronto Raptors participant Jontay Porter in 2024.