‘Why Wouldn’t Someone Do It?’ UCLA Expert Explains Psychology Behind Terry Rozier’s Betting Scandal

In the wake of last week’s NBA betting scandal, many wondered aloud why Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier would risk his career and freedom for “tens of thousands” of dollars. Rozier has career earnings of $160.4 million per Spotrac, and the risk clearly outweighed the reward in this case.

In search of answers, we spoke with UCLA Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Dr. Timothy Fong. He’s the co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program, which examines the underlying causes and clinical characteristics of gambling disorders.

If anyone could explain the dynamics behind this type of risk-taking, we correctly surmised that it would be Fong.

Average Joes Versus Seasoned Pros

Professional athletes like Rozier, who’s spent a decade plying his trade in the NBA, live in a world we mere mortals sometimes struggle to comprehend. Specific characteristics, when combined, can create the perfect storm.

“High level of competitiveness, high levels of access, high levels of income, and being surrounded by cultures that are celebrating all those things at the same time,” Fong said. “We’ve seen this for the entire time that American professional sports has occurred.”

He added, “I think oftentimes when people are like, ‘Well, why would anyone do this?’ I say, ‘Well, why wouldn’t someone do it?’ Because they’re surrounded by availability, access, culture, and things that get them excited.”

Then there’s the undeniable fact that we’re all flawed human beings who sometimes give in to temptation and make bad decisions.

“There are opportunities that are so juicy for folks, no matter how much money you make, the promise of making fast and easy money is always incredibly rewarding,” he said. “Think about how our brains respond to free stuff: buy one, get one free.”

Top-Three Areas of Risk for Pro Athletes

In his dealings with athletes and witnessing their mental health challenges, Fong cited three specific areas of risk:

• Developing an actual gambling addiction
• Sports integrity breaches (match-fixing or spot-fixing in Rozier’s case)
• Online abuse from angry bettors

The first is pretty straightforward. The possibility of developing an addiction to gambling does not depend on your tax bracket.

“They’re not immune to mental health problems (just) like the rest of us. … There’s a difference between people with gambling addiction, how they respond neurobiologically, to folks who just don’t have it.”

Things get more interesting when it comes to the internal conflict between changing the integrity of the game and making money off it.

Fong noted an interesting trend: Some athletes say, “I like to tell my friends or my family that I’m going to do this at a certain time. So if you want to bet on it, go right ahead. So it’s like they’re giving away money, giving stuff away, like they’re being generous.”

Players have also told Fong about being pressured by people from their homelands to execute spot-fixing at a certain point in a game. He referenced the Dominican Republic without associating it with the curious case of Cleveland closers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz.

“We’re asking you to do this at the top of the seventh, and you remember, we’re the ones that got you in the major league, so you better do it,” Fong said.

We’ve documented all sorts of stories concerning the third area of focus. Athletes in a wide array of sports endure online abuse from bitter bettors after they lose wagers. These can take the form of asking players for refunds on Venmo or denigrating them on Instagram. The worst example of this phenomenon revolves around death threats.

“That has a huge impact on their mentality,” Fong said.

You wonder if there are specific psychological or neurological mechanisms at work that make sports betting more addictive. So, you ask Fong. He says to consider individuals betting on sports, slot machines, blackjack, craps, and poker.

“You put them into a brain imaging scanner, and it’s going to look very, very similar in terms of what’s happening to the brain before they bet, during the betting session, and after the session ends,” Fong said. “What’s changed in the last few years is just the culture around sports betting, the normalization, the availability, the acceptance, and viewing sports betting as a job, or as a side gig.”

He added, “I wouldn’t say that sports betting is more addictive. They’re all addictive, all forms of gambling. But what about sports betting has changed? It’s just much more available, accessible, and permitted. That’s what’s allowed it to grow at such an exponential pace.”