NBA fixing: biggest American sports story in recent memory?

[mason55]

This obviously should be much bigger than a story about a single player.

A person in this position of power and authority has a much greater impact when they screw up. Both because of the influence they are able to exert over the game and the face that we entrust them to judge the participants, so if we can't trust the referees then that just casts doubt onto everything.

[disjunction]

If anybody involved in this had a brain, then they were only betting/fixing games with large point spreads so that they could avoid suspicion. Plenty of profit to be made from that, and they wouldn't kill the golden goose. I'm going to assume that's what happened until I hear otherwise. In which case the story is not as huge as it looks now.

I wouldn't be overly surprised, however, if it turns out that nobody involved had a brain.

[mason55]

does this sound wrong to anyone else?


http://www.nba.com/news/stern_statement_070720.html

"We would like to assure our fans that no amount of effort, time or personnel is being spared to assist in this investigation"

[Uncle Wimp]

[ QUOTE ]
this imo is by far and away the biggest story of those noted for one simple reason, it is a referee involved.

we expect there to be bad apples in the 'player pool'. there are simply too many of them for there not to be.

but for an official to be involved in something like this is mind blowing.

[/ QUOTE ]

My mind isn't blown because this sort of thing, I think, was inevitable with all the money to be made gambling now. NBA basketball is now a worldwide game, too. You can't really buy off an NBA player because of the big money they make, but you can get to a ref.
The next scandal could involve NCAA refs and players because they make so little. It's happened before. Or, one of those part-time NFL officials.
To me, it's all a matter of the amount to be made gambling and the amount the participants make.

[dzh90]

Anyone still like Las Vegas' chances of landing an NBA team? HA HA

I'm actually sad about this because an LV NBA team would be awesome.

[MicroBob]

Yup. If anything I suspect this practically confirms that LV will not be getting an NBA team in the near future.

Although MAYBE there's a chance Stern lightens up and realizes that most of the sports-betting in the U.S. takes places outside of LV anyway.

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
Yup. If anything I suspect this practically confirms that LV will not be getting an NBA team in the near future.

Although MAYBE there's a chance Stern lightens up and realizes that most of the sports-betting in the U.S. takes places outside of LV anyway.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sad but true. As if there's any connection between this and Vegas. If Vegas didn't exist, this stuff would obviously still happen. And it's not that the majority of $$'s bet on sports happen in places other than Vegas, it's that maybe as much as freaking 99%+ is bet in places other than Vegas. Vegas is utterly irrelevant. You can't even bet more than like $2k on a regular season game for crying out loud.

[andyfox]

It's not that there's a connection between this and Vegas. It's what Vegas is: a gambling mecca. Appearances count.

On another point, I hear people often say such-and-such game must be clean because the players are making so much money. Hogwash. The more money they make, the more they want to make. The idea that a guy making x million will not do something for a quick fifty grand doesn't fly.

[MicroBob]

exactly.

And I think I'm going to retract my thought of MAYBE Stern could see the big picture on this one because it's such a tough sell to all the people who will automatically mean that this will somehow make it easier and more convenient for big sports-gamblers to rig games.

Stern could conceiveably outline all the different ways this ref was betting on games with illegal mob and bookie stuff out of NYC or wherever and reiterate that this situation has absolutely nothing to do with LV or the legal sports-betting there.

But for many people it would just fall on deaf ears.

It's going to be tough enough for the NBA to gain back their credibility at all.
If somehow an LV team got good and made a run through the playoffs then the speculation that it was somehow 'designed' by the league or by the mob or whoever would just run rampant.

In fact, any LV win or loss would be widely speculated to have been pre-determined.
And god forbid if they miss a couple FT's with 1 second left and trailing by 8 and thus fail to cover the 7 point spread or something totally routine.

Or if LV finishes out of the playoffs and then gets a high pick in the NBA draft-lottery.
"RIGGED!!!!! The NBA is getting paid off by those evil thugs in LV. It's SOOOOO obvious!!!"
"Notice how they got the 3rd pick in the draft because so-and-so is who they really wanted. But giving them the 3rd pick doesn't make it TOO obvious."

blah blah blah.

LV doesn't even have a team and I can already hear the loonies complaining about every little paranoid situation their idiot-minds can dream up.

nope, even with all the reassurances in the world from Stern or anyone else I just think NBA hoops in LV will be too difficult a sell now because it will all be the most gigantic of conspiracy theories every single day even when nothing is happening.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
The idea that a guy making x million will not do something for a quick fifty grand doesn't fly.

[/ QUOTE ]


I think a broke college player just barely getting by would be far more likely to point-shave for $50k or whatever than some $1-million/yr player who would more easily be able to turn resist such a lure.

Criminals who are broke or have nothing to lose tend to be higher risk-takers in their robbery attempts than rich guys.
This is why (I assume) there aren't many millionaires who go out and rob 7-11 stores.