By Adeniyi Latinwo and Anthony Gutierrez, November 25, 2025
Federal authorities have announced a series of indictments linking major NBA and MLB figures to betting scandals, raising serious questions about trust and fair play in professional sports, according to The Washington Post.
Cleveland Guardians’ pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted Nov. 9, for allegedly accepting bribes to manipulate the outcome of specific pitches for bettors. The alleged scheme reportedly generated hundreds of thousands of dollars through prop bets, prompting leagues and sportsbooks to impose emergency limits on pitch-level wagers, according to the Department of Justice .
In the NBA, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, were arrested Oct. 23, in two related, high-profile gambling investigations. Prosecutors said Rozier allegedly leaked inside details about his physical condition, including plans to exit a game early, so associates could place prop bets against his performance. Meanwhile, Billups stands accused of participating in underground poker games using technology to cheat, linked to organized crime families, according to ESPN.
FBI Director Kash Patel, confirmed the scope of the probe stretches beyond isolated player misconduct during a press conference Oct. 23, tying the ring to several major organized‑crime families and dubbing it, “the insider trading saga for the NBA.”
These scandals strike at the core of sports credibility, according to Peter Hanink, an assistant professor of sociology at Cal Poly Pomona
.“The real concern about sports gambling historically was that it has the real risk of influencing the sporting match,” Hanink said. “If you have people betting on sports games, that money could influence players to throw the game.”
Hanink added that even athletes who don’t bet on their own sport face trust issues.
“Once you’ve crossed that line, then it’s, ‘how can you trust them?’” Hanink said.
Prop bets, which focus on highly specific events like individual pitches or points scored, are particularly vulnerable. Leagues now face the paradox of profiting from legalized betting while simultaneously policing it.
Hanink emphasized the contradiction is heightened by the normalization of gambling culture, noting that sports betting has become so commonplace in society that people question why athletes shouldn’t be allowed to participate.
Gambling scandals in sports are hardly new. From the 1919 Black Sox scandal to Pete Rose’s lifetime ban from the Baseball Hall of Fame, athletes have long faced consequences for betting.
“Pete Rose … by any measure, should be in the Hall of Fame,” Hanink said. “But he was disgraced because of gambling.”
The concern has always been fraud, that athletes could manipulate outcomes and violate the trust of fans. Today, however, the ubiquity of online betting and micro-wagers has increased the scale and immediacy of the risk.
Hanink explained it through the lens of sociology.
“There’s a concept called anomie, … a period when the norms, the kind of unspoken rules about how society functions, start to break down,” Hanink said. “Sports gambling is going through a redefinition, a contestation.”
The question now is whether leagues will tighten enforcement or if these scandals will merely fade into history. Hanink highlighted the limits of regulation.
“There’s never enough cops,” Hanink said. “The only way to do it is if there’s fear of getting caught or consequences, either formal like jail or informal like social shunning.”
Regulators and leagues are already considering stricter limits on prop betting and enhanced monitoring. But the broader cultural debate, balancing fan engagement, revenue and integrity, is far from settled.
Faye Wachs, sociology professor believes that the sports betting scandal compromises the purity of professional sports as well. Wachs thinks the scandal is interesting because it is similar to other instances of insider trading, whether it is gambling or even the stock market.
“They’re sort of all working in the same way, right?” Wachs said. “Somebody has information that they maybe shouldn’t have. They use that information to give themselves a market advantage.”
Wachs thinks misconduct like this makes viewers and consumers of professional sports upset because fans like to believe professional sports are fair competition. Wachs went on to explain viewers spend a tremendous amount of time defining what the true meaning of fairness is in competition.
Wachs said ultimately fairness is a fallacy to make things seem as if there is a proper code of conduct in place to keep things in order and in her words, it extends beyond sports.
“What is fundamentally masking or hiding is that there’s no such thing as fair competition,” Wachs said. “There’s nothing about our society that’s fair.”
Wachs continued there is no way to legislate fairness. So, to keep the myth going, we need sports to appear to have rules and guidelines that will ensure and guarantee fairness.
Wachs also explained from a psychological standpoint, most professional athletes have been expected to follow basic norms like everyday people. Now that they are seen as special human beings, they become accustomed to receiving a pass for behavior that most regular people would be socially sanctioned for.
“It really creates this sort of aura of invincibility, … a feeling that different rules apply to you,” Wachs said.
Wachs added history has revealed a pattern of people in a position of relevance dismissing the repercussions that come with their actions or inactions.
Arturo Cedillo, a business student who casually sports bets, primarily on prop bets, mentioned misconduct like this makes him second-guess the trustworthiness of professional sports leagues.
Cedillo reflected on cases as extreme as Jontay Porter’s and noted, with so many sports betting advertisements airing during live events, surprising incidents like this still occur so frequently.
“Nowadays, you don’t know who is doing what until it is publicly reported,” Cedillo said. “With that being said, I’m not really encouraged to participate given the numerous instances of investigations.”
According to The Athletic , league officials are taking the scandals seriously. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred emphasized protecting the integrity of the game, with both leagues reviewing gambling policies and working with sports books to prevent manipulation and safeguard competition.
Feature graphic courtesy of Connor Lālea Hampton
