Matt Higgins
The sports world is trying to come to grips after Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones were arrested Thursday on allegations of illegal gambling.
Federal authorities say Billups was involved in fixing high-stakes poker games run by the Mafia, while Rozier took part in a separate scheme, providing confidential information about NBA athletes and teams to co-conspirators who placed fraudulent bets. Jones was charged with involvement in both schemes.
This isn’t the first time sports figures have been ensnared in gambling scandals. As the FBI investigation unfolds, here are seven others that have rocked professional sports.
Pete Rose
The biggest gambling scandal in sports history rocked Major League Baseball in 1989 when Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose was banned for life for betting on games while a player and manager. The ban cost Rose, the all-time hits leader, a chance to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Rose’s lifetime ban was lifted in May, months after his death in September 2024.
Tim Donaghy
The NBA was plunged into crisis in 2007 when referee Tim Donaghy admitted to betting on games he officiated from 2003-07. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to felony charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and transmitting wagering information. Despite betting on games he was involved in, the NBA has said Donaghy never fixed games.
Ippei Mizuhara
More than three decades after the Pete Rose scandal, another one shook baseball’s foundation. Ippei Mizuhara, the translator for Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, was found to have stolen $17 million from the three-time MVP as he made 19,000 bets with an illegal bookie. Mizuhara was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison.
Jontay Porter
Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter was banned for life by the NBA in April 2024 after a league investigation found that he “violated league rules by disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games.” The NBA said Porter disclosed confidential information about his health status and “limited his own game participation to influence the outcome of one or more bets on his performance.”
Calvin Ridley
While a member of the Atlanta Falcons, wide receiver Calvin Ridley was suspended for the entire 2022 season after the league found he gambled on NFL games in November 2021 while on a mental health break. He was reinstated for the 2023 season and currently plays for the Tennessee Titans. Ridley called his actions a “stupid mistake.”
Art Schlichter
Art Schlichter’s once-promising career was derailed by his gambling addiction. The Baltimore Colts drafted Schlichter fourth overall in the 1982 NFL Draft. A year later, he was suspended for the entire 1983 season after admitting to gambling on NFL games and other sports. The league reinstated him in 1984, and he started five games for the Colts, going 0-5. He never played again after 1985.
“Shoeless” Joe Jackson
The 1919 “Chicago Black Sox” scandal nearly brought down baseball. “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and seven of his Chicago White Sox teammates were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. Even though the players were acquitted at trial, they were all banned from baseball for life.
