Sports-betting professional Stelios Maltepes told Newsmax on Friday that the NBA’s growing gambling scandal might represent only the tip of the iceberg.
He warned that similar schemes could be more widespread across professional and college sports.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged several people — including NBA guard Terry Rozier and former players Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones — in connection with an alleged betting ring that federal prosecutors say operated through encrypted apps.
The league has suspended Billups and Rozier pending the outcome of the investigation.
Maltepes, one of the nation’s top sports handicappers and author of “Booked: PhillyGodfather,” told “Rob Schmitt Tonight” he was surprised that Billups and Rozier were among those implicated.
“It just surprised me that they got Chauncey Billups and they got Rozier because these are two former NBA players that grossed over $270 million in their careers,” he said, adding that if two people associated with the NBA are caught, it’s likely the problem is more widespread.
“If there’s a couple of guys doing it, there’s a lot more than that,” he said.
“The most valuable weapon in the sports betting market is information — and who has that information? Players, coaches, trainers, and if you can get a ref, that’s the most powerful thing.”
Maltepes said people in organized crime “know who to target,” noting the lure of fast money and access to insider information.
He questioned how Rozier could place wagers of up to $200,000 on a single prop bet when legitimate markets typically cap such bets at only a few thousand dollars.
“It’s kind of interesting who they were using to put these bets in [and] how many were involved in this,” he said.
The veteran handicapper warned that although professional athletes have the resources to resist temptation, college players remain especially vulnerable.
“These college kids don’t make as much money, and they’re more susceptible to the underworld,” he said. “That’s the scariest part, because those college kids don’t have the money the NBA players do.
“It’s the temptation. These guys want to take a bite of that forbidden apple, and it always backfires on them.
“There’s an expiration date on all these scams, on all these match-fixing things, and they always get caught.”
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