Nba Ref Gambling
Over a decade ago, the NBA was embroiled in a scandal precipitated by the actions of a ‘dirty’ referee. Today, it’s baseball staff cheating to win. Tomorrow?
Tim Donaghy was an NBA referee, rated as one of the league’s best. Donaghy started out like most refs start out. He refed high school basketball and, eventually, worked his way up to the NBA. How does a ref make it to the NBA? It’s a talent pool just like for players. They are scouted.
Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy is back in pinstripes. Only this time, he was in the squared circle. Donaghy made his debut as a “crooked” referee in the main event of Major League Wrestling. The federal charges against Donaghy stemmed from an FBI investigation into allegations of an NBA referee betting on games and controlling the point spread. Donaghy, who had a gambling problem, allegedly placed tens of thousands of dollars in bets on games during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 basketball season and had been contacted by mobsters to.
But, there’s a dark side to Tim Donaghy.
Jimmy Battista, nickname “The Sheep,” is a professional gambler. He started a gambling group called “The Animals.” Place fifty thousand dollar bets and get a massive return…if you won. It wasn’t long before people wanted in on the action.
Battista knew Donaghy in high school, and he played football with Donaghy’s brother, Jimmy. The Sheep knew that Tim was an NBA referee, and contacted him, sweet-talking him into placing a bet on one of the games he would referee. The deal? Five grand every win. Nothing if he lost.
- Former NBA ref Tim Donaghy, at the heart of the basketball league's notorious betting scandal, says legal sports gambling comes with great dangers.
- In June 2007, the FBI informed the NBA that one of its referees, Tim Donaghy, was the subject of a probe into illegal gambling. Within months, the public knew the broad outlines of a scheme involving Donaghy betting on games he officiated with a co-conspirator, longtime Donaghy acquaintance and professional gambler Jimmy “Baba” Battista.
Battista and Donaghy won a lot. At one point, Battista nicknamed his partner, “Elvis” because of how he was helping him win. To do that, Donaghy would call fouls on certain players early in the game, making sure which players were going to do well in the game. It was to the gamblers’ advantage.
How did Donaghy get caught? It wasn’t through the NBA protocol. It was through the FBI. In 2007, the FBI was investigating a crime family, and Donaghy became a side character in that investigation, picked up on tape in a conversation with a mobster. FBI agents showed up at Battista’s house and asked him if he’s working with any officials in professional sports? Battista told them to contact his attorney.
But the FBI kept at it. Word spread fast across the league. When players heard the news, they figured what’s why all those fouls were called. On July 29th, 2008, Donaghy was sentenced to 15 months for participating in gambling associated with sports events. Battista was also sentenced to 15 months for interstate gambling.
Wrongdoing in sports–called ‘fixing’–never works in the long run. Cheating of any kind doesn’t work either. That’s why the Donaghy case is so important.
I’m reminded of the case with all the news these days in MLB about using technology to steal signs.
Integrity calls for playing games straight-up, without interference.
Related
Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy is back in a striped shirt, playing a crooked official in the wresting ring. Donaghy once served prison time in a basketball gambling scandal.
Donaghy was in the ring this week as a corrupt referee in the Major League Wrestling show Fusion. During the match, Donaghy helped wrestler Richard Holliday defeat fan favorite Savio Vega for the Caribbean heavyweight championship.
Everything was on the up and up,” Donaghy asserts in a staged interview after the bout, called a strap match.
An angry Vega says, “You cheated on me,” and follows Donaghy off-camera as if seeking a confrontation.
The 54-year-old Donaghy later said he thought fans would find the show entertaining. He added that he was “a little out of my comfort zone” but believed it went well, according to Sports Illustrated.
“Wrestling is a form of entertainment, and I’m having fun with it,” Donaghy said. “It got a little more physical than I expected, but it was definitely exciting. Everyone was very helpful and professional, and I hope I’m part of it again.”
‘Mafia Heavyweights’
A native of the Philadelphia area, Donaghy officiated in the National Basketball Association from 1994 until he resigned in 2007.
After his resignation, he pleaded guilt to charges of conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information through interstate commerce, according to ESPN.
Donaghy cooperated with prosecutors in the case and received a 15-month prison sentence.
In a book published in 2009, Donaghy writes, “During this dark period, I associated with sleazy bookies and reputed Mob figures, slowly becoming someone my family and friends no longer recognized.”
He added that he “passed inside information to wise guys who were making millions of dollars on my picks and lining the pockets of Mafia heavyweights.”
The book is titled Personal Foul: A First-Person Account of the Scandal That Rocked the NBA. In 2013, Donaghy spoke at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas.
Pete Rose’s Betting Advice
Donaghy appears in a recent podcast series titled Whistleblower, by sports journalist Tim Livingston. The multi-part podcast examines illegal gambling and Mafia influence in the NBA.
Donaghy, who lives in Sarasota, Florida, is associated with a sports betting service called Ref Picks: Tim Donaghy’s Handicappers. The Ref Picks website notes that Donaghy knows “how and what can affect a score.” The site adds that Donaghy has a “leg up on most handicappers” because of his “insider experience in officiating games.”
Donaghy is not the only former sports figure affiliated with a sports betting company. Former Major League Baseball player and manager Pete Rose also is associated with a handicapping service. In the 1980s, Rose was banned from baseball for betting on and against his team.
Rose recently agreed to serve as a national spokesman for oddsmaker Wayne Allyn Root’s Vegas Winners sports-wagering analysis and advice service.
Nba Poor Officiating
This comes as sports betting is spreading across the country. Nationwide, 20 states and Washington, D.C., allow sports wagering either on mobile devices or in-person at casino sportsbooks. Legislation to allow sports betting is up for consideration in Georgia and other states.
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Nba Referee Gambling
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