Free Form Friday
...for 10/24/2025
I have been expecting a massive gambling scandal to hit American pro sports for awhile now, convinced that the leagues and networks have jumped into bed with sport books without anything like the required safeguards. — FFF, March 22, 2024
That was me on the occasion of the Shohei Ohtani mess, which was memholed as a one-off in record pace. (Ippei Mizuhara was arrested, charged, pled out, and sent to prison in less than a year.) This despite Mizuhara using an illegal bookmaker to place his bets. That man, Mathew Bowyer, was quietly sentenced in August after cooperating with the feds and began serving his reduced one year sentence just last month.
Now comes the thunderclap of FBI arrests of current NBA players and coaches, accused of both placing prop bets on themselves, passing non-public info to bettors, and participating in elaborate rigged high stakes poker games set up by the Mafia. In all 31 people have been arrested so far, including a rogues gallery of scammers and crooks no sports league wants to be around.
Yet here the NBA finds itself just two days into a new season that was supposed to be all about celebrating its new media partnerships desperately trying to get its arms around the extent of the scandal. NBA apologists in the media are already downplaying the sophisticated mobbed up poker op which feds say stole $7 million from victims as “some poker game.” Nope. The confluence of big money, cheating, and crime families suggests a comfort level with criminality no pro athlete should have. The FBI made it very clear that the stolen poker money facilitated criminal activity for the Mob. If NBA Commish Adam Silver is not having kittens right now, he should be. To make matters slightly worse the NBA “cleared” Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier of prop bet shenanigans (betting the unders on his performance and then tanking or leaving the game) just a few months ago. It all seems very sketchy right now with the distinct sense that if one mobbed up wise guy flips things could get much, much worse for the Association.
Are we even sure she is dead?
Much closer to home the Oconee County council voted in a late-night session to place its county administrator on paid administrative leave and hire some new legal representation, all without explanation. In that vacuum has poured suspicions that it has something to do with a massive real estate project the council has steadfastly opposed. Stay tuned.
So how is Hamas to be disarmed? A weapons buy-back program. I shit you not. Those don’t work in Jersey City let alone Gaza City.
Today’s CPI print gives the Fed room for another fed funds haircut before the end of the year. Trump has been somewhat muted on the topic lately suggesting someone told him the jawboning does not help bring long rates down.
This has been obvious for a couple years now; police in the UK are afraid to enforce the law lest Muslims get upset.
There’s a surprise.
