The NBA betting scandal: Follow the (smart) money

There has been very little discussed of betting line movement on NBA games Tim Donaghy officiated.  Though this is a challenging assignment for a variety of reasons (e.g., multiple sportsbooks each with its own line, the passage of time), such an assessment would likely yield compelling results.

On a related note, those who are commenting on games it is suspected Donaghy bet should proceed with caution without knowing precisely what betting propositions were in play.  That is, even if there was agreement upon which games were part of Donaghy’s betting record (which there clearly is not, of course), simply knowing the opening or closing betting line of a particular sportsbook may not allow for conclusive evidence of a winning or losing proposition.  This sort of analysis would require knowing what line(s) Donaghy’s co-conspirator, pro gambler Jimmy Battista, was able to obtain and exploit.