For obvious reasons, when discussing recent events involving gambling allegations against NBA players and coaches many parties invoke the 2003-07 NBA betting scandal. Given the seriousness and complexity of the issues involved, it is helpful to examine what is known about each scandal as the conversation continues. Importantly, we know relatively little regarding the ongoing federal cases involving NBA personnel, so what is presented below is based exclusively on disclosures to date. The three primary areas of concern for each scandal are the alleged: scope, impact on game outcomes, and role of organized crime.
Scope
(December 2022- March 2024) “Operation Nothing But Bet” – Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones, and Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter (and potentially Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups).1
In late October 2025, federal authorities alleged Rozier and Jones (and perhaps Billups) participated in an insider sports betting conspiracy which exploited private NBA information. The scheme also allegedly involved players altering their performance or prematurely taking themselves out of games.
The indictment alleges an unknown number of impacted games between December 2022 and March 2024 as part of the scheme. Authorities did not allege a total amount for bets as part of the conspiracy. The indictment lists a handful of games being investigated, and four of them have betting amounts listed. They are respectively $263,500, $100,000, $11,000, and $100,000, for a total of $474, 500.
Importantly, the allegations focus mostly on “prop bets,” wagers which allow gamblers to bet on whether an individual player will exceed a particular proposition such as number of rebounds, as opposed to game outcomes.
The latest developments are related to the 2024 case against Toronto Porters player Jontay Porter, who in July 2024 pleaded guilty to participating in a gambling scheme involving at least two games, one each in January and March 2024. Porter acknowledged he alerted others for the purpose of gambling “that he would prematurely exit the games he was scheduled to play on January 26, 2024 and March 20, 2024.” Authorities have announced bets related to Porter’s two games totaling $134,094.
In sum, the total number of games in the current (December 2022 – March 2024) NBA betting scandal identified to date is seven and the known wagers by alleged conspirators to date totals approximately $608,594.
(Spring 2003; October 2003- April 2007) “Operation Flagrant Foul” – Referee Tim Donaghy.
In August 2007, Donaghy pleaded guilty to participating in a gambling conspiracy. Donaghy, who cooperated with the government, admitted to betting on two or three NBA games he officiated at the end of the 2002-03 season and on 30-40 games he officiated in each of the 2003-04, 2004-05, and 2005-06 NBA seasons. The government noted that although Donaghy says he bet on 30 NBA games during the 2006-07 season, he claims only sixteen of those were games he officiated. Thus, according to the federal government, Donaghy wagered on between 108 and 139 NBA games he officiated over the course of the scandal. Of note, Donaghy’s plea agreement meant he would only be sentenced for his ‘06-07 season actions, and he thus had motivations to minimize his culpability.
Others, including each of Donaghy’ co-conspirators, argue Donaghy bet on far more games he officiated in the ’06-07 season. For example, co-conspirator professional gambler Jimmy Battista claims he bet every game Donaghy officiated from December 12, 2006 until Battista opted out of the scheme on March 18, 2007. Importantly, the scheme continued with another pro gambler, Pete Ruggieri, and lasted three or four Donaghy-officiated games until Ruggieri shut the scheme down in April. Donaghy officiated 44 games from December 12, 2006 through March 2007. These are of course in addition to the unknown number of Donaghy-officiated games wagered in the earlier, October – December, portion of that season. Importantly, another pro gambler unaffiliated with the scandal explains he discovered more than 40 games Battista bet on games Donaghy officiated that season.
Taking into account the claims of pro gamblers and of Donaghy’s co-conspirators, an additional 24-36 Donaghy 2006-07 games were part of the scheme making the total number of Donaghy-officiated games bet that season between 40 and 52.
Authorities never identified or alleged the wagers per game or the total volume of bets in the conspiracy. Ruggieri, who cooperated with authorities, said he bet exclusively on games officiated by Donaghy, beginning in 2003. Another pro gambler involved in the scheme claims they bet exclusively on games Donaghy officiated from October 2003 until December 12, 2006, and that for the 2003-04 season wagers per game averaged approximately $20,000. For the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, he claims wagers averaged $250,000 per Donaghy game. Battista has argued the figures were higher throughout. After the logistics of the scheme changed (Battista obtained Donaghy’s picks much earlier, allowing him and his colleagues to more aptly manipulate worldwide betting markets) in mid-December 2006, Battista claims wagers averaged $1.5 million per game officiated by Donaghy until Battista withdrew from the scheme on March 18, 2007. Electronic betting data support Battista’s claims regarding the betting amounts for this portion of the scandal.
In sum, the total number of games officiated by Donaghy bet as part of the four-season scandal is between 132 and 175, and the total amount wagered by scandal participants on games officiated by Donaghy during the 2003-07 NBA betting scandal is approximately $80,950,000.
Impact on game outcomes
(December 2022- March 2024; Rozier, Jones, Porter +)
There are no allegations games were fixed, and the impact of the alleged betting and related on-court behavior on game outcomes is unknown. Obviously, players pulling themselves out of games early or otherwise altering their performance impacts outcomes, even though the extant goal of such activities was not to influence game results.
(Spring 2003; October 2003- April 2007; Donaghy)
In a case summary for “Operation Flagrant Foul” dated October 23, 2007 (months after Donaghy pleaded guilty) the FBI wrote, “In late 2006/early 2007, it was determined that an NBA referee, TIM DONAGHY, was involved in the fixing of professional basketball games.”
For reasons not worth delving into fully here (including a lack of wiretaps during the scandal, of gambling expertise, and of access to Battista and his electronic betting files), authorities determined they could not sufficiently demonstrate to a jury that Donaghy fixed games. Instead, in Donaghy’s plea agreement authorities wrote Donaghy “compromised his objectivity as a referee because of his personal financial interest in the outcome of NBA games, and that this personal interest might have subconsciously affected his on-court performance.” In the research for Gaming the Game: The Story Behind the NBA Betting Scandal and the Gambler Who Made It Happen (2011), FBI Supervisory Special Agent Phil Scala (ret.) explained to me the FBI fought with Donaghy over this: “We went back and forth with that a hundred times. [Donaghy] didn’t want to make that admission. He would say, ‘You don’t know how easy it was, blah, blah, blah’.” Several years later, Scala told ESPN, “Donaghy says he never threw a game. But you know what? That never really flew with us.” Despite his guilty plea and the assessment of the FBI, Donaghy insists his on-court performance was unaffected by his role in the scheme and that he exclusively relied upon “inside information” for his betting activities.
Donaghy also claims, because of his supposed access to and exploitation of “inside information,” in 2006-07 he wagered on games he didn’t officiate almost as often as on those he did, and his success was roughly equal regardless of whether he was on the court. No evidence has been produced to support these claims, and Donaghy told authorities he did not recall which games he bet. Donaghy’s co-conspirators, Battista and mutual friend Tommy Martino, along with professional gambler government cooperators, state the bets were again exclusively on games Donaghy officiated that season until Spring 2007. Battista and government cooperator Martino, key actors in the 2006-07 portion of the scandal, state a few “non-Donaghy” games in Spring 2007 were bet at Donaghy’s direction but because they were losers Battista stopped taking them. Indeed, pro gambler Ruggieri told authorities he only got involved starting in 2003 because he discovered the betting success on games officiated by Donaghy, which gamblers assumed were being fixed. Lastly, the sociology of the betting during the ’06-07 portion of the scandal (which began nights prior to games Donaghy officiated) does not support Donaghy’s claims of exploiting “inside information” garnered shortly before tip-offs. Instead, all available evidence supports the contention, as evidenced in the referenced FBI’s “Operation Flagrant Foul” case summary, Donaghy fixed games.
Alleged role of organized crime
(December 2022 – March 2024; Rozier, Jones, Porter +)
Although authorities made a splash about the role of “the Mafia,” “La Cosa Nostra,” and “crime families” in their press conference announcing the cases against Rozier, Jones, and Porter, and despite stating the cases were related to another conspiracy (alleging rigged high-stakes poker games) which explicitly involves organized crime according to the indictment and press conference statements, there has been no explanation as to what role, If any, “the mob” played in the 2025 NBA gambling-specific indictments. When asked, authorities refused to explain the alleged connections between the two cases.
(Spring 2003; October 2003 – April 2007; Donaghy)
Federal authorities made no mention of organized crime in the indictments of Donaghy and his co-conspirators. Indeed, despite the high-profile nature of the case, authorities made no mention of organized crime in press events or releases or in court filings. Donaghy has alleged he stopped betting with his former gambling partner, insurance salesman Jack Concannon, in Fall 2006 and that Battista and Martino were “Gambino Crime Family members/associates” who then threatened him and his family in December 2006 to keep the scheme going. Neither man was charged with extortion, and Donaghy’s best friend Martino explained to the FBI the meeting was arranged because Donaghy said he was upset Concannon would not pay off winnings and thus Donaghy was seeking another gambling outlet. Months after the Donaghy scandal cases were resolved in court, an FBI memo stated Donaghy was “motivated by monetary gain” and “continued to place bets with and furnish information to Battista through March 2007…Donaghy’s association with Battista apparently ceased only because Battista entered rehab in March 2007.”
According to the FBI, Donaghy returned to betting with Concannon in February 2007, and thus Donaghy was betting with Concannon and Battista until Battista withdrew from the scheme in March 2007.
Donaghy has also claimed he was desirous for the 2006-07 season to end so that “the mob” would no longer have their influence over him and he could stop betting, to which FBI officials, according to Donaghy, explained mobsters would never “give up their golden goose” and that gangsters would kill him before letting that happen. In truth, as noted above, when Battista went into drug rehab on March 18, 2007, the scheme continued though Ruggieri. According to authorities, the conspiracy lasted a handful of games into April 2007 until Ruggieri shut the scheme down.2 According to Martino, when informed pro gamblers were ending the scheme, Donaghy pleaded for one more game. As summarized in Tommy Martino’s FBI “302”:
Around March 2007, [Battista] went into drug rehab. At that point, [Donaghy] told Martino that he wanted Martino to continue the scheme with Pete Ruggieri…After Ruggieri decided to shut the scheme down, Donaghy pushed Martino to take one more game.
During sentencing proceedings, authorities wrote that Donaghy “has never taken the position that he was anything other than a willing participant in the scheme with Battista and Martino, and, before them, with Jack Concannon.” When sentencing Donaghy, Judge Carol Bagley Amon described the conspiracy among Donaghy, Battista, and Martino as a business “arrangement”, before she added that Donaghy was “more culpable” than his co-conspirators, noting “without Mr. Donaghy, there was no scheme.”
Any “role” of organized crime in the 2003-07 NBA betting scandal was reserved for the last few months of the four-season scandal. By then, numerous people around the world were copying the bets on games Donaghy officiated, and that universe of people included gangsters in New York, which is how the scheme was discovered by the FBI.3
spg
1 As reported by ESPN, “though Billups was not named in the sports betting indictment, the description of a co-conspirator who allegedly told a bettor that a number of Trail Blazers players would miss a March 2023 game had a playing and coaching career that matches.”
2 This is why the deals for Donaghy and others are for actions through April 2007, while Battista’s agreement is for actions only through March.
3 More analysis on “the mob” and the 2003-07 NBA betting scandal can be found here.
