After the NBA, now football has its own 'mind-boggling' betting scandal

Tom Weber

• 27 Oct 2025 14:18 CDT
• 3 min read

News

While the NBA is currently being rocked by a massive betting scandal, football faces a similar situation in Turkey.

Last week, three high-ranking figures in the NBA were arrested on charges of alleged illicit gambling, with Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and former Cleveland Cavaliers player Damon Jones taken into custody.

The people implicated stand accused of providing sensitive information to sports betting sites and playing a part in rigged, mafia-backed poker games. In total, 34 people have been arrested after a year-long investigation.

Organised crime networks and at least four mafia families are said to be involved in a case the scale and financial implications of which have been described as "mind-boggling" by FBI director Kash Patel.

The scandal has even reached Congress, with NBA commissioner Adam Silver receiving a bipartisan letter requesting a briefing on the matter. One attorney called the scandal "one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States."

Hundreds of Turkish officials accused of gambling

Gambling isn't only a problem in the NBA, as a five-year investigation has shown in Turkey. Ibrahim Ethem Haciosmanoglu, the president of the Turkish FA, announced Monday that a shocking 371 of 571 referees were found to have betting accounts.

Out of those 371, 152 stand accused of actively gambling. The list of officials with accounts includes seven unnamed referees and 15 assistants from Turkey's two highest divisions.

All governing bodies - the Turkish FA, UEFA and FIFA - strictly prohibit gambling. Under FIFA rules, the officials in question could be banned from all footballing activities for up to three years.

"If we want to bring Turkish football to the place it deserves, we have to clean up whatever dirt there is," Haciosmanoglu said. “We are determined to clean our football from any shadow of corruption. There will be no exceptions.”

Turkish football has become notorious for alleged corruption, violence and financial issues. While incredibly shocking, this revelation has been positively received by Turkish clubs.

Fenerbahce president Sadettin Saran said: "This is both shocking and deeply saddening for Turkish football. But the fact that it is coming to light is a hopeful development."

Former Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho courted controversy not long ago when he repeatedly accused Turkish referees of corruption and "systemic favoritism."

FIFA and UEFA could launch their own probes into the matter, and it is believed that this revelation could change Turkish football forever. In a similar match-fixing scandal in 2011, more than 90 people were charged with manipulating results.

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