NBA is Fixed - Just as I suspected
Eliot Rosewater
Posts: 2,659
After watching a record number of games this past NBA season, I came to a terrible conclusion. The NBA is rigged. I saw too many games with too many controversial calls that not necessarily changed the outcome of the game, but often changed the outcome of the spread. People called me crazy, but in light of recent investigations, my conclusion now has some merit. They're saying this ref has ties to the mafia. The same mafia that is heavily involved in gambling and sports betting.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07202007/news/regionalnews/fbi__nba_ref_donaghy_fixed_games_regionalnews_.htm?page=0
July 20, 2007 --
from the New York Post
NBA referee Tim Donaghy is at the center of an FBI organized-crime probe after he allegedly made bets on basketball games, some of which he was officiating, the Post has learned.
Donaghy, a 13-year veteran of the NBA, resigned from the NBA two weeks ago.
The investigation, ongoing for the past year, focused on allegations that Donaghy, 40, was making calls to affect the point spread so that he and mobster cronies could cash in on large bets. The bets involved thousands of dollars and occurred during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons.
Donaghy knows of the investigation, originally reported on by the Post, and is planning on turning himself into officials next week.
One source close to the probe counted the number of games on which the ref and his wiseguy buddies scored windfalls in the "double digits."
Though asked by the government not to comment, NBA Commissioner David Stern spoke briefly Friday afternoon about the investigation.
"As we previously stated, we have been cooperating with the FBI in their investigation of allegations that a single NBA referee bet on NBA games that he officiated," Stern said.
"We would like to assure our fans that no amount of effort, time or personnel is being spared to assist in this investigation, to bring to justice an individual who has betrayed the most sacred trust in professional sports, and to take the necessary steps to protect against this ever happening again."
Donaghy allegedly wagered on games during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 NBA seasons.
James Margolin, an FBI spokesman, declined comment on the latest black eye for professional sports.
The sources indicated the referee apparently had a gambling problem, slipped into debt and fell prey to mob thugs.
"That's how he got himself into this predicament" by wagering with mob-connected bookies, one source told the New York Post.
"I'm shocked, terribly shocked," said Gary Benson, NBA official for 17 years, who retired two years ago because of knee problems. "Those are people that you work with and that you literally -- you spend more time with those people than you do with your family."
Nevada gambling regulators were not involved in an investigation and had no information about the allegations, said Jerry Markling, enforcement chief for the state Gaming Commission and Gaming Control Board.
Markling, in Las Vegas, said he learned of the probe from news accounts.
"The allegations were new to us," said Mark Clayton, a control board member. "However, we will continue to monitor them to ascertain whether there is any connection to Nevada's licensed sports books."
Veteran oddsmaker John Avello, at the Wynn resort on the Las Vegas Strip, said that without specific information it would be difficult to identify wagering irregularities over the last two seasons.
"At this point, it's too early to know if any games were affected," Avello said, adding that no regulators or investigators had contacted him about the case.
Jay Kornegay, executive director of the sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton, said he had never seen any unusual activity in NBA betting, and was surprised not to have heard about an investigation until Friday.
"Whispers would have happened on the street, and we would have heard something," Kornegay said. "Any type of suspicious or unusual movements, you usually hear in the industry. We’re so regulated and policed, any kind of suspicion would be discussed.
"We haven't seen anything like that in the NBA that I can remember," he said, "and we haven't been contacted by anybody."
Kornegay said legal sports betting in Nevada represents a fraction of sports betting worldwide, with 98.5 percent of all action taken outside the state.
Professional basketball has remained largely unscathed by allegations of game-fixing, although college basketball has been rocked by several scandals involving point-shaving by players, but not officials.
One of the most recent was a Boston College point-shaving scam arranged in the 1980s by mobster Henry Hill, who bribed several players. Hill later became a government informant, and his life was depicted in the movie "GoodFellas."
Having a referee in their pockets provides a two-fold bonanza to game fixers.
Gamblers would be able to directly cash in by betting on games where they knew the point spread was compromised.
But having a ref in their pocket could prove even more lucrative to crooks in a bookmaking syndicate.
Bookmakers hope to encourage an equal amount of betting on each team and make their money on the "vigorish," which is typically 10 percent of a losing bet.
But armed with the inside information, the bookmaking syndicate could set an artificial point spread that would encourage large "layoff" bets from other bookies carrying too much action on one team, that were likely now to lose.
An FBI organized-crime squad in the bureau's flagship New York office is handling the case, but the referee traveled the country officiating various games on which he allegedly bet.
It was not determined which games were allegedly affected by the referee's actions, or how much money may have been won by him and his cohorts.
The FBI got wind of the scheme while conducting a separate mob investigation.
The most prominent American sport- gambling scandal in recent history involved Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose, who was banned from baseball in 1989 for betting on his own team.
Based largely on testimony of two Rose associates, Ron Peters and Paul Janszen, Major League Baseball determined that from 1985 through 1987, Rose bet on baseball, including 52 Reds games in 1987, at a minimum of $10,000 a game.
All of Rose's bets on Cincinnati were to win.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07202007/news/regionalnews/fbi__nba_ref_donaghy_fixed_games_regionalnews_.htm?page=0
July 20, 2007 --
from the New York Post
NBA referee Tim Donaghy is at the center of an FBI organized-crime probe after he allegedly made bets on basketball games, some of which he was officiating, the Post has learned.
Donaghy, a 13-year veteran of the NBA, resigned from the NBA two weeks ago.
The investigation, ongoing for the past year, focused on allegations that Donaghy, 40, was making calls to affect the point spread so that he and mobster cronies could cash in on large bets. The bets involved thousands of dollars and occurred during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons.
Donaghy knows of the investigation, originally reported on by the Post, and is planning on turning himself into officials next week.
One source close to the probe counted the number of games on which the ref and his wiseguy buddies scored windfalls in the "double digits."
Though asked by the government not to comment, NBA Commissioner David Stern spoke briefly Friday afternoon about the investigation.
"As we previously stated, we have been cooperating with the FBI in their investigation of allegations that a single NBA referee bet on NBA games that he officiated," Stern said.
"We would like to assure our fans that no amount of effort, time or personnel is being spared to assist in this investigation, to bring to justice an individual who has betrayed the most sacred trust in professional sports, and to take the necessary steps to protect against this ever happening again."
Donaghy allegedly wagered on games during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 NBA seasons.
James Margolin, an FBI spokesman, declined comment on the latest black eye for professional sports.
The sources indicated the referee apparently had a gambling problem, slipped into debt and fell prey to mob thugs.
"That's how he got himself into this predicament" by wagering with mob-connected bookies, one source told the New York Post.
"I'm shocked, terribly shocked," said Gary Benson, NBA official for 17 years, who retired two years ago because of knee problems. "Those are people that you work with and that you literally -- you spend more time with those people than you do with your family."
Nevada gambling regulators were not involved in an investigation and had no information about the allegations, said Jerry Markling, enforcement chief for the state Gaming Commission and Gaming Control Board.
Markling, in Las Vegas, said he learned of the probe from news accounts.
"The allegations were new to us," said Mark Clayton, a control board member. "However, we will continue to monitor them to ascertain whether there is any connection to Nevada's licensed sports books."
Veteran oddsmaker John Avello, at the Wynn resort on the Las Vegas Strip, said that without specific information it would be difficult to identify wagering irregularities over the last two seasons.
"At this point, it's too early to know if any games were affected," Avello said, adding that no regulators or investigators had contacted him about the case.
Jay Kornegay, executive director of the sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton, said he had never seen any unusual activity in NBA betting, and was surprised not to have heard about an investigation until Friday.
"Whispers would have happened on the street, and we would have heard something," Kornegay said. "Any type of suspicious or unusual movements, you usually hear in the industry. We’re so regulated and policed, any kind of suspicion would be discussed.
"We haven't seen anything like that in the NBA that I can remember," he said, "and we haven't been contacted by anybody."
Kornegay said legal sports betting in Nevada represents a fraction of sports betting worldwide, with 98.5 percent of all action taken outside the state.
Professional basketball has remained largely unscathed by allegations of game-fixing, although college basketball has been rocked by several scandals involving point-shaving by players, but not officials.
One of the most recent was a Boston College point-shaving scam arranged in the 1980s by mobster Henry Hill, who bribed several players. Hill later became a government informant, and his life was depicted in the movie "GoodFellas."
Having a referee in their pockets provides a two-fold bonanza to game fixers.
Gamblers would be able to directly cash in by betting on games where they knew the point spread was compromised.
But having a ref in their pocket could prove even more lucrative to crooks in a bookmaking syndicate.
Bookmakers hope to encourage an equal amount of betting on each team and make their money on the "vigorish," which is typically 10 percent of a losing bet.
But armed with the inside information, the bookmaking syndicate could set an artificial point spread that would encourage large "layoff" bets from other bookies carrying too much action on one team, that were likely now to lose.
An FBI organized-crime squad in the bureau's flagship New York office is handling the case, but the referee traveled the country officiating various games on which he allegedly bet.
It was not determined which games were allegedly affected by the referee's actions, or how much money may have been won by him and his cohorts.
The FBI got wind of the scheme while conducting a separate mob investigation.
The most prominent American sport- gambling scandal in recent history involved Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose, who was banned from baseball in 1989 for betting on his own team.
Based largely on testimony of two Rose associates, Ron Peters and Paul Janszen, Major League Baseball determined that from 1985 through 1987, Rose bet on baseball, including 52 Reds games in 1987, at a minimum of $10,000 a game.
All of Rose's bets on Cincinnati were to win.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
...BUT, why is the entire NBA fixed if one referee was nabbed cheating? Could it be possible that he was the only one or must we let the fickle finger wander above all referees now?
And, if you're watching that shit, you need to get a life because it's a waste of fucking time.
-Enoch Powell
Sammi: Wanna just break up?
point shaving is fixed
but the NBA is not fixed because one dork cheated.. except to those looking for an excuse to bash the NBA.. maybe they are short.. or had a bad NBA experience as children...
Sammi: Wanna just break up?
I understand what pont shaving is - that is cheating. .and the refs don't have that much control.... Very difficult to be that accurate.
If there is point control - there is fixing
Hated the David Robinson era... the new Spurs are much better more fun to watch
Point shaving, in organized sports, is a type of match fixing where the perpetrators try to prevent a team from covering a published point spread. Unlike other forms of match fixing, sports betting invariably motivates point shaving. A point shaving scheme generally involves a sports gambler and one or more players of the sports team favored to win the game. In exchange for a bribe, the player or players agree to ensure that their team will not "cover the point spread," or win by the required margin. The gambler then wagers against that team.
the ref was point shaving not actually fixing the game.
Sammi: Wanna just break up?
This statement has to be the company line they've been ingrained with. There is no way he is that naive, especially having put in 17 years of NBA officiating. This obviously isn't the first greed-based scandal to hit the NBA refs recently. A whole host of officials had some part in scamming the league out of airfare compensation a few years back.
The way Phoenix got screwed over in the playoffs, I would say it it closer to broken then running smooth.
and the ref who's accused of fixing games did the infamous Game 3 of the Phoenix/San Antonio series
this column has the details
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070722
Ott
-Shakespeare
plenty of suspect calls and non-calls, read the column
Bottom line is, this is by far the hardest sport to officiate. The athletes are too big and athletic; and with them barrelling into each other and colliding midair and hand checking and all the rest, there's so much grey area on EVERY possession. You can't have two guys leaning into each other on the post, both pushing seven feet tall and two-fifty easy and not have a foul committed, EVERY TIME.
What with superstars getting breaks, personal vendettas against players (Joey Crawford vs Tim Duncan-the laughing incident), it is really becoming a joke. It is not a job I would want, but the ref's are apparently more of a problem than i gave them credit for.
My point is that every game has a ton of questionable calls and non-calls. Par for the course, sadly. I used to love the game.
Ott
-Shakespeare