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Read Full BioPortland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups has been arrested in Oregon in relation to an alleged illegal poker operation tied to the Mafia.
Billups is expected to make an initial court appearance on Thursday, where the full charges will be revealed. His arrest is thought to be related to the investigation, which also led to the arrest of Terry Rozier in Florida on Thursday.
While Rozier did not play in the Miami Heat‘s game against Orlando on Wednesday, Billups coached the Trail Blazers in their season opener. The team lost 118-114 to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Billups joined the Trail Blazers as head coach in 2021 following a spell as assistant for the LA Clippers. He has one NBA Championship to his name, earned with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. He was also named the league’s MVP that season. His playing career also includes five appearances in the NBA All-Star Game.
FBI Director Kash Patel is expected to announce the charges against Rozier during a news conference on Thursday in New York City.
Billups’ Arrest Not Related to Betting on NBA Games
While Rozier is facing potential charges of deliberately influencing betting markets during games when he was a Charlotte Hornets player, Billups is not thought to be implicated in a spot-fixing scandal.
ABC News reported that his arrest relates to illegal poker games tied to organized crime. Former NBA player Gilbert Arenas was arrested earlier this year for staging illegal poker games at his LA mansion.
Those games were said to have been instigated by Yevgeni Gershman, a suspected organized crime figure from Israel. It is unclear as yet whether Billups is also connected to Gershman.
In addition to Rozier and Billups, law enforcement is expected to announce the details of further arrests in the gambling investigations.
NBA Commissioner: US Needs More Gambling Regulation
Prior to the season starting and the high-profile arrests, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called for “more regulation” of sports betting to protect the game’s integrity and that of its players.
Talking on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, Silver said, “I wish there was federal legislation rather than state by state.” Silver is likely to have been aware of the impending arrests against the league’s current players and coaches.
The Commissioner said he has urged betting companies to reduce the number of prop markets available on games. He stated, “We’ve asked some of our partners to pull back some of the prop bets, especially when they’re on two-way players, guys who don’t have the same stake in the competition, where it’s too easy to manipulate something, which seems otherwise small and inconsequential to the overall score.
“We’re trying to put in place — learning as we go and working with the betting companies — some additional control to prevent some of that manipulation.”
