Today's News: NBA Players and Coaches Indicted in Multiple Illegal Gambling Schemes

35 individuals, including active NBA player Terry Rozier, Hall of Fame coach Chauncey Billups, and former NBA player Damon Jones, caught up in two separate illegal gambling investigations.

Terrence Dorsey

Oct 23, 2025

Photo: Alex Slitz

Thanks for reading The Newsie Project! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Date: October 23, 2025
Summary: Federal authorities have announced sweeping indictments against 34 to 35 individuals, including active NBA player Terry Rozier, Hall of Fame coach Chauncey Billups, and former NBA player Damon Jones, in connection with two separate illegal gambling investigations. One scheme, “Nothing but Bet,” involved insider sports betting where non-public information about player injuries, absences, or team strategies was used to place fraudulent wagers. The other, “Operation Royal Flush,” detailed a large-scale, Mafia-backed operation of rigged high-stakes poker games that defrauded victims of millions. Both Billups and Rozier have been placed on immediate leave by the NBA, which has pledged full cooperation with the ongoing investigations.

Sources

Key Points

Two distinct federal investigations, “Nothing but Bet” (sports betting) and “Operation Royal Flush” (rigged poker), led to the arrests and indictments.
Prominent NBA figures Chauncey Billups (Portland Trail Blazers head coach), Terry Rozier (Miami Heat guard), and former player/assistant coach Damon Jones are central to the charges.
The rigged poker scheme involved the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese crime families, using high-tech cheating devices like altered shuffling machines, hidden cameras, and special contact lenses/sunglasses to defraud victims of millions.
The sports betting scheme focused on exploiting non-public information from NBA players and coaches regarding player availability (injuries, early exits) or team strategies (e.g., “tanking”) to place advantageous prop bets.
Damon Jones is implicated as a defendant in both the sports betting and rigged poker schemes.
The NBA responded by immediately placing Billups and Rozier on leave, reiterating its commitment to game integrity, and pledging cooperation with authorities.
Federal law enforcement officials, including the FBI Director and U.S. Attorney, characterized the sports betting scheme as an “insider trading saga for the NBA” and hailed the arrests as a significant blow against organized crime.
The indictments follow previous NBA gambling scandals, notably the lifetime ban of Jontay Porter for similar performance manipulation and betting activities.
Terry Rozier’s attorney maintains his client’s innocence, stating he is not a gambler and criticizing prosecutors for prioritizing a “perp walk” over allowing a self-surrender.

Unique Highlights

The New York Times highlights Adam Silver’s previous call for legalized sports betting and his more recent request for betting partners to “pull back some of the prop bets.”
CNN reports U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr.’s direct message to the defendants: “Your winning streak has ended. Your luck has run out. Violating the law is a losing proposition, and you can bet on that.” It also mentions that the NBA had previously looked into the March 2023 game involving Rozier against the Pelicans and, at that time, found no rules broken.
NBC News uniquely describes a situation in an April 2019 Las Vegas poker game where orchestrators of the plot realized Chauncey Billups was winning too many improbable hands and instructed him to “lose on purpose” to avoid suspicion. It also mentions former NBA star Gilbert Arenas’s recent arrest and indictment for operating illegal high-stakes poker games.
The Washington Post specifies the felony charges Billups, Rozier, and Jones face (money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy), each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years. It reveals that Damon Jones filed for bankruptcy twice after his playing career, owing money to the Bellagio casino. The article also details a text exchange where Jones was coached on how to cheat in poker, using NBA star comparisons like “Steph” (Stephen Curry) and “the Bron” (LeBron James).
The Wall Street Journal notes that it had reported in January that Terry Rozier was under investigation. It also highlights that Chauncey Billups is “by far the most prominent figure” to be swept up in the federal investigation due to his coaching position and Hall of Fame status.
ESPN reports that Terry Rozier appeared in federal court wearing a Charlotte Hornets sweatshirt, handcuffs, and shackles. It also states that prosecutors requested “substantial bail conditions” for poker rigging defendants, noting Billups’s “substantial financial resources.” A source close to LeBron James confirmed he was the “prominent NBA player” in Damon Jones’s texts, but clarified that James was unaware of any gambling activity by Jones and has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Contrasting Details

Number of Individuals Charged: Most articles, including The New York Times, CNN, NBC News, and ESPN, state that a total of 34 people were arrested or indicted. However, The Washington Post reports that “In all, 35 people were charged.”
Chauncey Billups’s Implication in Sports Betting Scheme: While all articles agree Billups was charged in the rigged poker scheme, his direct involvement in the sports betting scheme is nuanced. The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and ESPN identify him as “Co-Conspirator 8” who provided insider information about the Trail Blazers “tanking” in a March 2023 game, but explicitly state he was not charged in that specific sports betting indictment. The New York Times further notes it was “unclear why Co-Conspirator 8 was not charged.” In contrast, CNN and NBC News primarily focus on his charges in the poker scheme and do not explicitly detail his implication in the sports betting scheme, though they do not contradict the other reports.

The Newsie Project uses AI to summarize, compare, and contrast the reporting of the major US and world online news sources.

This is an evolving project. Tools, approaches, and output formats will change over time. The Newsie Project does not attempt to provide a definitive capsule of any news story. While the incidence of errors in these summaries is low, and I attempt to spot-check details, AI tools can hallucinate. Please click through and read the articles for details (some may be paywalled).

The Newsie Project