The NBA Mafia betting scandal is the tip of the iceberg. Now match-fixing expert speaks on wider web of sports shame... and who it implicates: 'Dancing with the devil'

Somewhat ironically, offshore betting websites responded to news of Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier’s arrests last week by offering wagers on the next NBA figures to be ensnared by the ongoing federal gambling probe. 

So while the NBA and other sports leagues may hope these illegal gambling allegations are isolated, bookmakers and their customers seem less optimistic. 

Both men are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Billups, the Portland Trail Blazers head coach, is accused of participating in a $7 million Mafia-linked poker scheme, while Rozier, a journeyman guard now playing for the Miami Heat, allegedly conspired with gamblers to influence betting results.

They have each denied the accusations through their respective attorneys.

But as shocking as Thursday's arrests were, the world's foremost match-fixing expert also sees greater problems on the horizon - particularly as leagues become increasingly tangled with legal sportsbooks through partnership deals. 

'The nexus between sports gambling and US sports leagues means they are dancing with the devil,' Dr. Declan Hill, an author and associate professor of investigations at the University of New Haven, told Daily Mail. 'If anyone thinks this is an exception or the only league being affected by similar issues, they're living in a dream world.'

Author of best seller 'The Fix: Organized Crime and Soccer,' Hill did not speak to the Daily Mail as an informed expert on the cases against Billups, Rozier, and the more than 30 other alleged conspirators in the two purported schemes.

Rather, referring to his own infiltration of match fixers, Hill painted a worrisome picture for sports leagues and athletes alike.

'There is a catalyst that is driving this phenomenon of gambling addiction,' said Hill, who testified to Congress on the subject back in 2018. 'And there is a plague of gambling addiction among athletes.'

Stressing that Billups, Rozier and the others accused 'have not had their day in court' and remain innocent in the eyes of the law, Hill was unsurprised to see mention of poker games in Billups' indictment. As he learned from a federal agent who infiltrated the Canadian Mafia, as well as interviews with match fixers based in Asia, poker games are often used as bait for action-craving sports stars.

'You would set up these poker events, and you would be hunting for the whales, hunting for the players, whoever are going to be degenerate gamblers, because then you target those guys, you recruit them, you maybe even let them win to hook them into your scheme,' Hill said. 'But that's the recruitment tool to get these guys ensnared in this network.

'You get these guys in debt, and you get to own them.'

A similar, but notably different scheme was described in the indictment unsealed in federal court on Thursday: Billups was allegedly a 'face card' used by criminals to lend credibility to fixed poker events, where unsuspecting gamblers would be swindled with the use of rigged shuffling machines, x-ray tables and other alleged cheating technologies.

Billups is not accused of owing any debts to Mafia figures. 

Still, poker games are integral for illegal bookmakers hoping to sink their hooks into athletes and their cohorts, according to Hill. 

Take, for instance, the case of Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani's disgraced former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. Now serving a 57-month sentence on bank and tax fraud after stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts, Mizuhara was first introduced to illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer during a 2021 poker game at a team hotel in San Diego.

Mizuhara has since admitted to stealing from Ohtani to cover his gambling losses, which is something Bowyer was keenly aware of at the time.  

'The minute I saw a wire transfer with the name of Shohei Ohtani was the moment I said, "holy [expletive],"' Bowyer told NPR. 'This is good and bad.' 

Although Ohtani wasn't involved and hasn't faced illegal-gambling allegations, that 2021 poker game was swarming with MLB personnel. Former Los Angeles Angels infielder David Fletcher has admitted to being present, and Bowyer said prior to his recent incarceration that around 10 ballplayers in total were at the underground poker game.

'That poker game was happening at a Major League Baseball hotel with players from two teams,' Hill said. 'The official story asked us to believe that no players were involved and the illegal bookmakers just focused on the translator. Okay, fine, but you can see the pattern.'

Then there is banished Toronto Raptors benchwarmer Jontay Porter, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy after becoming one of the first dominos in this FBI probe to fall last year. His co-conspirator in the prop-bet scheme was none other than poker player Long Phi Pham, who has also pleaded guilty to federal charges and is additionally named in the Rozier indictment. 

Now Porter is underdoing gambling treatment for his admitted addiction as he awaits sentencing. 

'Everything that makes [athletes] good at their sport — obsession, drive to win, highly competitive, never giving up, sweating until they get the result they want — makes them terrible gamblers,' said Hill. '[Athletes] have a predilection for gambling addiction greater than drugs or alcohol.'

Hill is quick to cite the limited research subject, such as one study by McGill University's Jeffrey Derevensky that found male student-athletes in high-profile sports such as baseball and football were more likely to report gambling problems than counterparts in other sports.

Birches Health, a gambling addiction treatment provider, reported that 78.9 percent of studies on the subject found athletes wagered more frequently than non-athletes. And in 75 percent of those studies, athletes were more likely to wager on sports.

Match fixing is obviously nothing new.  

There are many notable examples across sports history, such as the 1919 Chicago White Sox, eight of whom received lifetime bans for allegedly conspiring with gamblers to throw the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds.

But outside of the NBA's 2007 Tim Donaghy scandal, when the long-time referee admitted to impacting games he was wagering on, its been the lower rungs of sports where most match fixing has been exposed. 

For instance, the 2011 match-fixing scandal in tennis resulted in the lifetime ban of a player who never ranked higher than No. 87 in the world. Then there's Porter, a fringe player on a two-way contract who ended up on the feds' radar after a curious amounts of bets were placed on the unremarkable player. 

In response to that scandal, the NBA asked sportsbooks to reduce prop bets on fringe players, as commissioner Adam Silver recently revealed to ESPN's Pat McAfee. 

'We've asked some of our partners to pull back some of the prop bets, especially when they're on two-way players, guys who don't have the same stake in the competition where it's too easy to manipulate something, which seems otherwise small and inconsequential to the overall score,' Silver said. 

But that solution may aim too low.  

Realistically, illegal gambling activity on fringe players is easy to spot. The real challenge comes with big events like Super Bowls, where a tidal wave of betting information can leave regulators powerless to pick out criminality.

'The thing about prop bets on minor players, like a Jontay Porter, is you can actually see if there's something going on, because the liquidity pool is so low,' Hill said. 'You know, it's like the paddling pool next to the Olympic-sized swimming pool. So, the effects of the potential corruption are much easier to see.'

Referring to one of the match-fixing rings he infiltrated as part of his research, Hill said he asked one fixer to name the biggest event he'd ever rigged.

'He shrugged and looked at me and said: "I don't know which is bigger the Olympics or the World Cup?'"

FIFA has denied World Cup match-fixing allegations in 2022 and 2014, saying it failed to find any evidence of improper activity. However, FIFA has acknowledged past issues and in 2010, banned a Ghanaian referee for life after match fixers allegedly manipulated four pre-tournament warm-up matches. 

More recently, match fixing allegations have surfaced in Australia’s soccer league and even the English Premier League, although West Ham’s Lucas Paquetá was ultimately cleared by investigators of trying to influence betting outcomes.

There have been several instances of Olympic match fixing, including the 2016 Rio Games and 2012 London Games, where boxing and badminton matches were found to be rigged. 

Both the International Olympic Committee and FIFA are among the countless sports organizations now working to combat match fixing. Sportsbooks, too, are engaged in the fight against illegal gambling schemes. 

'At FanDuel, we use advanced technology and real-time monitoring to identify suspicious activity and work closely with leagues, data monitoring groups, and law enforcement,' read that sportsbook's statement provided to Daily Mail. 

But as Hill stressed, these efforts are fruitless without comprehensive support for vulnerable athletes.

Sports leagues, Hill said, 'need to have a serious discussion about getting blue water between' themselves and the bookmakers, while many athletes need to seek treatment for their gambling problems. 

'I'm not suggesting that every single athlete is a gambling addict,' Hill said. 'I'm not suggesting that, but I'm saying this is a widespread phenomenon, and until you tackle that issue, you're going to have all kinds of problems.'