The NBA has landed in another gambling scandal, in the same week that its 2025-26 season launched to ample fanfare.
At a Thursday press conference in New York, FBI director Kash Patel announced that more than 30 arrests were made “[across a wide-sweeping criminal enterprise that envelopes both the NBA and La Cosa Nostra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yzk0pjvs8o).”
Patel said the arrests targeted an “illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years.”
The investigation has two prongs: the use of inside information to bet “unders” on player props in NBA games (“Operation Nothing But Bet”) and a nationwide scheme of rigged poker games (“Operation Royal Flush”).
Patel specifically named the Bonanno, Gambino, Lucchese, and Genovese families as being involved in the rigged poker games, which resulted in more than $7 million in losses to individuals who were lured to participate.
“The fraud is mind-boggling,” Patel said, citing “tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery” and declaring a commitment to “keep our entertainment industry fair and secure.”
The “unders” aspect of the probe resulted in six arrests. The rigged poker games produced 31 arrests.
The NBA’s primary problem relates to the manipulation of “unders” and the misuse of inside information regarding a player’s plan to leave a game early. As Patel said, “This is the insider trading saga for the NBA.”
However, the other piece of the case also involves the NBA. Chauncey Billups — the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers (a team still owned by Seahawks owner Jody Allen) — allegedly participated in the rigged poker games as a “face card” aimed at attracting the “fish” who were fleeced into sitting at a table where, allegedly, everyone else was in on the scam.
The rigging of the poker games included high-tech means, including off-the-shelf shuffling machines altered to detect the cards and to predict the hands of the players. The information was then communicated by an outside operator to a “quarterback” at the table, who made secret signals to the other participants in the ruse.
What is the message to other sports leagues, including the NFL?
“Simple,” Patel said, “if you’re participating in a legal gambling industry, you’ve got nothing to worry about. If you’re participating in illegal conduct, you’ve got everything to worry about. And this case shows it.”
At one point, FBI Assistant Director in charge of the N.Y. field office Christopher Reya characterized the indictment as the “tip of the iceberg.” It remains to be seen whether the NFL ultimately will be accused of steering the S.S. [Big Shield](https://www.amazon.com/Big-Shield-Mike-Florio-ebook/dp/B0FGH43V6D/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3O0R3IRRDUBLB&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.M5hCm2_BB0izK7PPi_HuxE6h2b1dazwvSGoCqU-hNTXlxh7X0lF_h6-cfiOD0IGXoOLmNCv8umV513jRZ9QA349LXKZjYNHfrNm6PJloMDvnmWeY3v69icc2AuqC_tfIXvMpd7FCHuKRBvYemx0e9jno_B99t3RXzz0A3RwoIsycvyzhaQPgSRS8U03c8aDgGjNxn3l49Raprmj_fCn1tmNouOgb0WEN-zhd-HVWd2X0P_OdQma020EuiYZ7Pn_O1tXdr8m4qt669Sakg6YHYxvUxkkuvWtfQi7sbG2GHc8.IpxDZWysOp959eQXPUPBMS4kg3YlERJ2Jhlhrx5l8Nw&dib_tag=se&keywords=big+shield&qid=1761238698&sprefix=big+shield%2Caps%2C102&sr=8-1) into it.