Five Past Gambling Scandals That Rocked American Sports

For arsenic agelong arsenic sports person existed, humans person sought to bet connected them.

"As acold backmost arsenic 4000 to 3000 BC, ancient Egyptians stake connected dice, committee games, and feats of skill, specified arsenic chariot racing and fencing," an excerpt from a 2025 textbook entitled The Business of Sports Betting reads. In early modern Europe arsenic successful our ain time, betting was large business, and nan believe boarded nan ships westbound to nan Americas.

On Thursday, a awesome scandal greeted hoops fans arsenic a national probe into alleged forbidden gambling ensnared Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Heat defender Terry Rozier, and others. The investigation is simply a monolithic one, but it is hardly nan first into sports betting successful nan nation's history.

Here is simply a look backmost astatine 5 past gambling scandals that captivated fans and changed their respective sports.

The Louisville Grays were a charter personnel of baseball's National League and employed 1 of nan champion players of their era—pitcher, first baseman, correct fielder and proto-Shohei Ohtani Jim Devlin. Devlin was worthy an astonishing 18.3 bWAR successful 1876, nan fourth-highest full successful big-league history. However, a agelong losing streak successful 1877 formed suspicion connected respective Grays successful a gambling-friendly era—Devlin included. In December of that year, damning grounds from telegraph messages led nan NL to prohibition Devlin and 3 teammates for life. The saga demonstrated that nan then-new convention meant business, but betting would proceed to haunt Major League Baseball...

1919: Eight Men Out

...for almost 50 years. In 1919, nan White Sox looked for illustration a imaginable dynasty successful nan making, having rebounded from a down 1918 to spell 88-52 successful nan first post-World War I season. Mystery and story obscure what happened down nan scenes, but Chicago dropped nan World Series 5 games to 3 against nan Reds. The adjacent year, rumors of irregularities snowballed into a expansive assemblage inquest and nan suspension of 8 White Sox. Each subordinate was acquitted, but Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis—the holder of an authoritarian caller title, "Commissioner of Baseball"—banned nan octet from nan crippled for life. Gambling successful shot wouldn't end, but a period would walk earlier nan 2 institutions walked manus successful manus again.

College hoops has ne'er seen a squad rather for illustration nan City College of New York squad of 1950. CCNY went 17-5 successful nan regular play earlier winning 7 consecutive games—all complete Top 15 teams—to triumph some nan NIT and the NCAA tourney (then not played concurrently). Its roster makeup—almost wholly Black and Jewish—had small precedent successful what past was a WASPy sport. In 1951, however, Manhattan halfway Junius Kellogg reported a projected bribe to his coach, mounting disconnected a concatenation of events that ended pinch dozens of arrests successful New York and beyond. CCNY, which saw 7 players apprehended amid point-shaving allegations, tumbled from nan ranks of assemblage basketball's elite; nan Beavers went 10-11 successful 2025 successful Division III. More broadly, nan ungraded tarnished nan credibility of nan athletics successful a New York City opening to ace down connected organized crime—and it was only a matter of clip earlier nan master crippled would eclipse its fame location for good.

1963: The NFL's forgotten scandal

Packers halfback, fullback and backmost Paul Hornung and Lions protect tackle Alex Karras some bask plaques successful nan Pro Football Hall of Fame today. However, successful 1963 they concisely became notorious owed to allegations that they associated pinch organized-crime figures. Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Hornung and Karras indefinitely aft they admitted to betting connected football, and each missed a twelvemonth of his premier (both gave up their age-28 seasons). Both returned, contrite, and soon nan NFL would turn able and firm capable to support gamblers distant for decades.

In nan 7 decades betwixt CCNY's era and our own, gambling influences continued to rear their heads successful assemblage hoops from time to time—but nary modern ungraded looms larger than Boston College's. In 1979, respective Eagles cooperated pinch a group of mobsters that included Henry Hill—Ray Liotta's characteristic successful Goodfellas—to shave points successful 9 games successful nan Eagles' past play arsenic a hoops independent (they'd subordinate nan Big East successful 1980). The strategy netted nan gamblers hundreds of thousands of dollars, and only came to ray erstwhile Hill began informing connected his past associates. The NBA responded by preemptively banning 3 of nan progressive Boston College players for life.

More connected Sports Illustrated