Months after former Toronto Raptors center Jontay Portergota was given a lifetime ban due to a gambling scandal, the NBA announced Thursday that Miami Heat point guard Terry Rozier is being investigated in relation to a sports betting scam.
In March 2023, the league received a warning about questionable wagering related to Rozier. NBA spokesperson Mike Bass verified in a statement that Rozier, who was a member of the Charlotte Hornets at the time, was playing for the New Orleans Pelicans.
“The league conducted an investigation and did not find a violation of NBA rules,” Bass stated. “We have been assisting with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York’s investigation into this matter, which we are now aware of.
NBC News received no response from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. A request for comment was not immediately answered by Rozier’s agency or the NBA Players Association.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the investigation.
Several individuals told the WSJ that there were concerns when an abnormally high amount of bets on Rozier fell short of statistical standards. The NBA and sportsbooks were notified by U.S. Integrity, the company responsible for keeping an eye on gambling activities.
According to the NBA game highlights, Rozier, whose career earnings have over $100 million, exited with a sore right foot after just scoring five points.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the inquiry is a component of the same federal sports betting investigation that was launched against Porter.
Last year, Porter entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to conduct wire fraud for intentionally skipping two games in order to help people win large wagers that Porter would perform poorly. In court, the former NBA center acknowledged that he consented to the plan in order to pay off his gambling debts.
Porter stated last year, “I really apologize for what I did, which I know was wrong and illegal.
He risks between three and four years in prison, penalties, and maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution, though he has not yet been sentenced in the case.
In April, Porter received a lifetime ban from the NBA.
“At the time, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated that Jontay Porter’s flagrant violations of our gaming rules are being met with the most severe punishment because there is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams, and everyone associated with our sport.”
In addition to supporting the league’s gambling policy, the NBA Players Association promised to give him the resources he required. The criteria, according to the association at the time, are “paramount to maintaining the integrity of our athletes and protecting the future of the sports.”
Since the Supreme Court struck down a restriction on sports betting in 2018, the practice has been more popular, with a notable uptick during the early stages of the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic. At least three states saw an increase in calls to gambling addiction hotlines last year, according to NBC News.
Legalizing sports betting has also sparked worries that match-fixing problems may increase. Columnist Thomas O’Brien stated in a 2023 series for Bloomberg that the proliferation of gambling apps would only exacerbate the long-standing issue.
Although match fixing has always existed, experts claim that it has become more common and pervasive since the introduction of mobile devices and internet gambling, which enable nearly anybody, anywhere, to place a wager,” O’Brien stated.