NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association game rigging investigation

Just read about this in our morning paper.

"a sprawling betting scheme to rig games...as recently as last season." 

"Gamblers placed bets and recruited players with the premise of a big payment in exchange for purposefully underperforming during a game.  Fixers would then bet against the players' teams in those games, defrauding sportsbooks and other bettors."

Case filed in federal court in Philadelphia.  Charges include bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy.

Games as recently as January 2025.

Prosecutors named more than 40 schools...included Tulane and DePaul, Saint Louis University, Eastern Michigan University, Wright State University, Alabama State University, and the Chinese Basketball Association.

"Fixers" include gamblers, players, college, professional, MLB, coaches, trainers. In some cases players recruited other players to participate.

"The latest gambling scandal to hit the sports world since a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision unleashed a meteoric rise in legal sports gambling."

At least something to divert discussion from ICE.

Candy

Accusations of "fixing" games when a player/team underperforms are as old as the chariot races in the Circus Maximus. (I'm serious; several contemporary Roman historians commented on this.)

This one smells funny. Making the masterminds the heathen Chinee lowers the chance of an actual investigation uncovering anything while making the whole tale that much more plausible to those who dislike them.

Also, coaches, pro players, etc. are very well paid. It would take huge financial incentives to get them to cheat like that. And any player, even a college athlete, would be jeopardizing his career as well as risking criminal prosecution.

Couple that with the zero likelihood of that many people being involved in this and NO ONE blowing the whistle ..I call bullshit. The targeting of a Chinese organization, plus the conspiracy theory smell, strongly suggest that this is just another MAGA stewpot.

As usual stupid kevin can't read.  Nobody said the Chinese were behind this.  They say the Chinese league was a victim, much like the NCAA.

Also, coaches, pro players, etc. are very well paid. It would take huge financial incentives to get them to cheat like that.

Terry Rozier was indicted a few months ago and he he makes $26+m.  Chauncey Billups has made over $100m in his career.  Damon Jones has made over $21m

And any player, even a college athlete, would be jeopardizing his career as well as risking criminal prosecution.

Only 60 players get drafted out of the thousands playing college hoops; So for 95+% of them it is worth it. 

Being found guilty of criminal fraud would be devastating for a college athlete, whether he was headed for an NBA career or not.

Again, it's a silly fantasy that a) enough money could be collected to successfully bribe hundreds of individuals into risking their careers AND their freedom, and b) that no one would spill the beans.

  As truthful as this post is - cheating has and will seemingly continue in the future. 

Sure. But not on the massive scale that this silly conspiracy theory suggests. The mastermind(s) would have to front billions of dollars and then, presumably, recoup all that money and then some by placing bets.

I also wonder...what happens when a star player who was been bribed performs poorly? Doesn't the coach bench him? Is that poor performance enough to make his team lose/not cover the spread? What about the next game? And the next? If this player is "bought," it seems to be that he would have a pretty imminent expiration date if he continued to fulfill his agreement and underperformed.

Another factor that makes this very, very unlikely is that sportsbooks, whether online, in casinos, or brick and mortar standalones, will modify lines or cut off action altogether if an unusual amount of money comes in on one side. If all of a sudden, millions of dollars' worth of bets come in on North Dakota Remedial Tech Institute vs. Notre Dame, and one player on Notre Dame plays extremely poorly, that will invoke massive scrutiny, if not by the general public, certainly by the bookmakers.

f this player is "bought," it seems to be that he would have a pretty imminent expiration date if he continued to fulfill his agreement and underperformed.

No expiration date.  Once a player gets caught up in this the "mob" owns the player.  If the player says no, then they get exposed

That's not what I meant. If he continues to underperform, his value will rapidly decline as a) his coach reduces his playing time b) bettors discern that he's not playing well and lay off betting on his team. In either case, the player's value to those who bribed him drops precipitously.