Americans’ Sports Betting Attitudes Have Soured, NBA Scandal Won’t Help
Posted on: October 24, 2025, 10:49h.
Last updated on: October 24, 2025, 11:42h.
- Public opinions regarding sports betting in the US continue to worsen
- This week’s FBI news regarding allegations of sports betting collusion in the NBA won’t help matters
Recent polling suggests that more Americans today don’t have a positive opinion regarding the United States’ quick embrace of sports betting, gambling that spread rapidly across the country following a landmark 2018 ruling by the Supreme Court. This week’s bombshell from the FBI, raising dozens of allegations against NBA players and coaches conspiring with four organized crime families to defraud legal sportsbooks and dupe unsuspecting poker players, will likely only worsen those attitudes.
Earlier this month, the Pew Research Center said recent polling suggests that more than four in 10 Americans (43%) believe the legalization of sports betting has been a detriment to society. That’s up almost 10% from similar polling conducted in 2022.
Sports betting, in some form, is legal in 39 states and Washington, DC.
Federal law enforcement this week alleged that NBA star Terry Rozier tipped off a friend who shared inside information with bettors for their financial gain. Rozier is accused of faking injuries and throwing games to his conspirers’ benefit.
Former NBA player and coach Damon James is alleged to have participated in a similar scheme, tipping off bettors about the status of LeBron James in exchange for $2,500 fees.
NBA Shortcomings
The general public’s souring opinion regarding sports betting leans toward younger men. The Pew Research poll found that nearly half of young men (47%) categorized as under 30 believe sports betting is a bad thing. That’s up substantially from just 22% in 2022.
When the “big four” sports and the NCAA embraced legal sports betting, the leagues ensured the public that protecting the integrity of their competitions would be paramount. The leagues and associations invested in third-party integrity monitors to surveil betting markets for suspicious activity.
This week’s FBI announcement highlights that at least the NBA failed. To the legal sports betting industry’s credit, the sportsbooks immediately detected suspicious wagering activity regarding Rozier player props as early as 2023. They notified the league, but the NBA determined there had been no wrongdoing.
In March 2023, the NBA was alerted to unusual betting activity related to Terry Rozier’s performance in a game between Charlotte and New Orleans,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in June 2025. “The league conducted an investigation and did not find a violation of NBA rules. We are now aware of an investigation by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York related to this matter and have been cooperating with that investigation.”
On Thursday, the NBA tried to save face.
“We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments. We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” a league statement read.
Rozier and Portland Trailblazers head coach Chauncey Billups, who is accused in the poker scheme, have both been placed on immediate leave.
Trump Retaliation
President Donald Trump is no fan of the NBA or its commissioner, Adam Silver. The president maintains that the league panders to China, taking specific issues with Silver, former coach Greg Popovich, and Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
Trump commented on Thursday’s NBA bombshell.
This worm NBA Commissioner Adam Silver should be brought before Congress immediately to testify. What did he know and when did he know it about the NBA gambling scandal,” Trump wrote on social media.
Silver was the first of the big four commissioners to embrace sports betting. In a 2014 op-ed in The New York Times, Silver called for the legalization and regulation of sports betting.
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