NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has not yet responded to a letter from the Senate Commerce Committee regarding the league’s ongoing betting scandal, reports The Hill.
The committee, chaired by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in late October sent a letter to Silver requesting information by Nov. 10 about the league’s gambling policies after Miami guard Terry Rozier, Portland coach Chauncey Billups, and others were indicted on federal gambling-related charges.
The letter also asked for the NBA’s communications with legalized sportsbooks and wanted Silver to explain “the extent to which the NBA has addressed and plans to further address alleged instances of sports gambling, wagering and game rigging” to ensure players or coaches “do not have ties to organized crime.”
Federal officials alleged that Rozier conspired with associates to help them win bets based on his statistical performance in a game when he was with the Hornets on March 23, 2023.
Rozier played sparingly in that game, and gamblers who wagered that he would finish “under” certain statistical totals won those bets.
Sportsbooks detected unusual patterns of wagers on the Charlotte game in question — prop bets involving Rozier were flagged and immediately brought to the NBA’s attention — and the league probed the matter but did not find enough evidence to conclude that Rozier broke any rules.
The NBA, unlike federal law enforcement, does not have subpoena power.
NBA staff members met last week with congressional staffers to discuss the league’s relationship with sportsbooks and other matters related to the gambling scandals that led to the indictments of Rozier, Billups and others.
Cruz and Democrat Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the committee’s ranking member, also want to know “why Rozier was cleared” by NBA investigators to continue playing when federal investigators charged him with crimes.
Silver in late October said he was “deeply disturbed” about allegations of criminal gambling fraud.
“There’s nothing more important to the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition,” Silver said in a halftime interview during a game between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. “And so I had a pit in my stomach.”
“It was very upsetting.”
Newsmax Wires contributed to this report.
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