Members of Congress wrote to NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Friday, asking him to provide a briefing by October 31 relating to the gambling scandal that engulfed the league earlier this week.
Sent by a bipartisan group of six representatives on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the letter calls on Silver to further explain the NBA’s relationship with sports betting to “assist the Committee in its oversight.”
The committee’s intervention came the day after Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former NBA journeyman Damon Jones were named among 34 people indicted in connection with two separate federal gambling investigations announced by the Eastern District of New York.
The letter lists five points for Silver to address, asking him to explain further details about the “alleged betting practices in connection with NBA players, coaches and officials,” as well as the actions the league intends to take to limit inside information being used for “illegal purposes.”
It also asked Silver to evaluate whether the league’s current code of conduct for players and coaches “effectively prohibits illegal activity,” and outline “whether and how the NBA is reevaluating the terms of its partnerships with sports betting companies.” The league has partnership deals with betting companies DraftKings and FanDuel.
As for more strictly policing sports betting, the committee asked Silver to identify any gaps in “existing regulations that allow illegal betting schemes to occur.”
For example, it referenced Silver’s appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” Tuesday in which he said, “I wish there was federal legislation rather than state by state,” and added that “we’ve asked some of our partners to pull back some of the prop bets.”