The NBA is no stranger to drama, but few stories have rocked the league quite like the recent arrest of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. As details continue to emerge, the scandal has cast a long shadow over the start of the 2025-26 NBA season, raising uncomfortable questions about gambling’s grip on professional sports and the integrity of the game itself.
It all began on October 24, 2025, when federal authorities arrested Billups as part of a sweeping FBI investigation into a high-tech, Mafia-backed poker cheating ring. The sting, which netted 31 suspects, also implicated Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones. Prosecutors allege that this was no ordinary gambling ring: the operation was tied to notorious New York crime families—the Gambino, Bonanno, and Genovese clans—and used technology so advanced it would make even Las Vegas blush. Hidden X-ray poker tables, contact lenses capable of reading marked cards, and a secret off-site operator feeding live data to players at the table—these are just a few of the tools federal agents say were used to fleece unsuspecting victims.
One anonymous victim told the New York Post he lost $1 million in a single night, lured into the game by a "trusted ex-NFL player" who served as the so-called "front man." Once inside, the stakes doubled and the pressure to "go all in" was relentless. "They used the professional athlete to make us feel safe," the victim claimed, highlighting how the reputations of figures like Billups and Jones were leveraged to attract new targets. The FBI described the cheating tech as "shockingly advanced," with modified shuffling machines capable of predicting winning cards in real time. A photo of Billups at the poker table with alleged co-conspirators, first published by the DailyMail, only intensified the media frenzy.
The Department of Justice painted a damning picture: Billups and Jones, dubbed "face cards" in the indictment, allegedly helped organize and participate in rigged poker games since at least 2019. Victims lost more than $7.15 million over that period, with one Las Vegas game in April 2019 alone resulting in at least $50,000 in losses. According to the DOJ, Billups was even wired $50,000 after a rigged game in October 2020. The indictment claims that Billups and Jones were used to attract “fish”—unwitting players starstruck by celebrity athletes—while the real action was rigged behind the scenes. In one instance, a defendant texted another that Billups should purposely lose a hand to avoid arousing suspicion. "Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others," Billups’ lawyer said in a statement to ESPN. "He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game. Furthermore, Chauncey Billups has never and would never gamble on basketball games, provide insider information, or sacrifice the trust of his team and the League, as it would tarnish the game he has devoted his entire life to."
But the federal government’s allegations go even further. Billups is accused of disclosing confidential team information prior to a March 23, 2023, Trail Blazers game, enabling bets totaling more than $100,000 against his own team. Under NBA rules, any coach found to have shared such information for wagering purposes faces permanent banishment. The league wasted no time responding. Both Billups and Rozier were placed on immediate administrative leave, with the Trail Blazers appointing Tiago Splitter as interim head coach. "We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments announced today," the NBA said in a statement. "We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority." The Trail Blazers echoed this, adding, "We are aware of the allegations involving head coach Chauncey Billups, and the Trail Blazers are fully cooperating with the investigation."
Billups, who was preparing for his fifth season as Portland’s head coach and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame just last year, now faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Released from custody under strict conditions, he surrendered his passport, agreed to refrain from gambling activities, and cannot leave Oregon or Colorado. His arraignment is scheduled for November 24, 2025, in New York. Rozier is set to appear in federal court on December 8. Both men are barred from contacting each other or any of the 30-plus co-defendants.
As the investigation deepens, the NBA is bracing for more shoes to drop. The FBI has signaled that the probe could expand beyond basketball, noting that the NFL recently reminded its players of the ban on illegal gambling and the requirement to report any gambling debts over $10,000. The league warned that massive gambling losses make players prime targets for organized crime—a sobering thought given one NFL player reportedly lost $8 million in a single year, according to NBC Sports. The NBA, for its part, is under increasing pressure to tighten its gambling policies. Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the scandal in an interview on ESPN’s "The Pat McAfee Show," stating, "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 added, "We can monitor it in ways that were unimaginable years ago," but conceded that more regulation is needed, ideally at the federal level.
Meanwhile, support for Billups has come from unexpected places. Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue, a longtime friend and godfather to Billups’ daughters, spoke before a recent game: "When you’ve known somebody so long, you can just tell by their voice—if he’s okay. Like I said, he’s confident in what’s going on. The toughest part just for him is just like his family going through with his daughters. But other than that, he’s really confident about the situation. So just hearing his voice, I can just see that he’s okay. That was good to hear." Lue added, "I’ve been with him since I was 17 years old. So it’s just hard to see something like this happen. So he has my love and support always."
For now, the NBA and its fans are left in limbo. Billups maintains his innocence, vowing to fight the charges with the same determination that defined his 28-year career. The league, meanwhile, must reckon with the uncomfortable reality that its embrace of sports betting has opened doors to risks few could have imagined. As the investigation continues and the legal process unfolds, the eyes of the sports world remain fixed on what comes next for Chauncey Billups, the Trail Blazers, and the NBA’s battle to defend its integrity.
With the scandal still developing, one thing is certain: the NBA’s response—and the outcome of these high-profile cases—will shape the league’s relationship with gambling for years to come.
