When Adam Silver stood in front of the media podium at the Las Vegas Summer League, the NBA was being swept up in the largest gambling scandal in history. Brooklyn Federal Court—Over the past year, at least five active or retired NBA players have been indicted in gambling-related cases, with over 30 defendants involved in a criminal network spanning sports betting and illegal poker. On the morning Silver spoke, the Eastern District Attorney's Office submitted a letter confirming that it was close to reaching plea agreements with 11 defendants, including Shane Hennen, identified as the mastermind behind multiple gambling crimes. In this situation, Silver's stance was clearer than ever—the federal level needs a sports betting commissioner with subpoena power, as the league's own investigative reach is "not extending" in many directions.
Brooklyn Case within a Case: From the Lakers Locker Room to the National Collapse of College Basketball Courts
The Eastern District Federal Court in Brooklyn is concurrently handling three intertwined cases, covering professional levels from the NBA to MLB to NCAA, almost without any dead angles. Former LeBron James teammate Damon Jones was the first NBA player to plead guilty. Prosecutors accused him of leaking non-public injury information about a Lakers player to an illegal gambling group in February 2023—although the indictment did not name names, the timing and player profile highly matched James—the group then profited from betting. Jones pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge of telecommunications fraud in April and is scheduled to be sentenced in early 2027. Four other NBA players—former Finals MVP Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier, Malik Beasley, and Ed Davis—are also facing charges in the Eastern District Court.
The wounds of college basketball are even deeper. Hennen is also accused of being a key figure in a nationwide college basketball point-shaving case, involving more than 20 schools and at least 17 Division I league players. If Hennen pleads guilty, it likely means that the prosecution has obtained a breakthrough that could leverage the entire prosecutorial framework. MLB was not spared either—Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are facing charges of manipulating game balls, the NFL banned 10 players in 2023 for similar issues, and NHL's Shane Pinto was suspended for 41 games due to a betting proxy case. Silver's words were restrained—"We recognize this as a form of entertainment, but at the same time, people might quickly lose control, and such control mechanisms must also be in place." But a series of cases has already made the argument for him.
From the Porter Case to the Pokorny Roadmap: A Draft of Federal Regulatory System is Already Written
Jontay Porter's name occupies a special position in all this. This former Toronto Raptors center became the first NBA player to be permanently banned from the NBA for manipulating games since the repeal of PASPA—prosecutors determined that he owed a huge gambling debt to Queens resident Ammar Awawdeh, who instructed him to leave two games early, locking in substantial betting profits for a gambling group. Porter is still considered a victim of extortion, awaiting sentencing for conspiracy to commit telecommunications fraud. Just last Thursday, Awawdeh himself pleaded guilty to two felonies, including conspiring to bribe to influence sporting events. The Porter case is not just an isolated scandal; it directly spawned a draft of a regulatory system.
Former Eastern District Federal Prosecutor Carolyn Pokorny published a co-authored commentary article in "Dow Jones" last December, providing a complete manual for this reform. Her model draws from the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority—a self-regulatory organization that emerged after repeated scandals on Wall Street. Pokorny's proposed Federal Office of Sports Betting Integrity would "investigate integrity alerts, coordinate law enforcement, refer crimes for prosecution, and recommend best practices to prevent future misconduct," with core powers including subpoena rights across states. Silver explicitly told iGB that he is a "supporter" of this proposal—"I am very supportive of regulation, as you've heard, I think more means are needed to truly control the situation." PASA's official website has judged that the federal level's system design has long been constrained by state rights traditions, but when scandals spread from individual cheating to systemic interstate networks, the political resistance to federal intervention becomes measurable. The Brooklyn serial case is verifying this judgment.
Leagues Taking Sides, State Rights Backlash, and the Squeeze of Prediction Markets
Silver's federal roadmap is not followed by all leagues. This spring, MLB preemptively signed a historic memorandum of understanding with the CFTC, designating Polymarket as the league's official prediction market—a step further institutionally than other leagues. NHL has established partnerships with both Kalshi and Polymarket. Although the NBA started negotiations with the CFTC about a potential memorandum in April, no agreement has been reached yet. The NFL remains silent. Meanwhile, congressmen are pressing from two directions—Senator Ted Cruz spent a lot of time at the federal sports betting hearing in May calling for the restoration of sports integrity, while Representative Paul Tonko compared the issue of youth gambling to the tobacco epidemic of the 1990s. Both have written to major leagues seeking opinions, but according to several congressional sources, little progress has been made since the May hearing.
On the state rights front, the backlash exists as well. At the NCLGS summer meeting held in San Diego last week, state legislators and regulatory bodies' core concerns were straightforward—gambling regulation has always been the exclusive domain of the states. Former Florida State Senator and NCLGS founder and general legal counsel Steve Geller's stance was clear: states "jealously guard" the regulatory power of sports betting and should not hand this power over to the federal government. However, he is not opposed to states levying taxes through prediction markets—North Carolina Governor Josh Stein just included a **6%** tax on transaction fees from CFTC-licensed prediction markets in his fiscal year budget. In other words, state rights defenders oppose the "right" of federal regulation, but they do not refuse the "money" that comes from non-regulation.
Silver has a clear self-awareness. He admits that the league has "almost no control" over the use of its own intellectual property—"We have no right to decide whether to set prop bets." In his view, forming a united front among leagues, establishing unified best practices regarding insider trading, prop manipulation, and abuse of prediction markets, are immediate steps that can be advanced. Whether a federal commissioner with subpoena power is a distant or near solution depends on how many more names Brooklyn digs up next. For more in-depth analysis on the evolution of the U.S. sports betting regulation and integrity system, stay tuned to PASA's official website.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel:https://t.me/pasa_news
Original deep channel for gambling:https://t.me/gamblingdeep
Free data report: @pasa_research
PASA Matrix: @pasa002_bot
PASA official website: https://www.pasa.news
