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Future gambling scandals, like the recently revealed one rocking the NBA, could be exposed thanks to regulations governing legalized sports betting, according to the person overseeing Missouri sports betting.
Mike Leara, executive director of the Missouri Gaming Commission, shared thoughts on the unfolding episode with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last week.
Leara noted that sports betting safeguards – including monitors who look for any suspicious or out-of-the-ordinary sports betting, as well as the notification procedures that each operator must follow – help root out activity that is both illegal and in violation of professional sports league rules.
“Unfortunately, bad actors will always attempt to circumvent even the most robust controls, but I believe the recent news-making sports wagering scandals show that when regulators, operators, geolocation providers, and integrity monitoring providers work together, the bad actors are rooted out.”
Six hired to oversee MO sports betting
Leara also pointed out that sports betting operators have a vested interest in discouraging such behavior, and in order to assist those operators, the MGC and the Missouri State Highway Patrol have hired six people to help the state oversee the new-to-Missouri industry, the Post-Dispatch reported.
Leara added:
“I think the public should feel confident that the MGC has been thoughtful in how sports wagering will be regulated.”
Missouri will open up retail and mobile sports betting on Dec. 1, a little more than a year after voters narrowly passed a referendum legalizing wagering throughout the state.
For the next month, bettors in Kansas City and St. Louis will still have to trek to Kansas or Illinois to put in their geocached mobile wagers. Starting in December, however, they can stay in Missouri and contribute to the 10% tax on sports betting revenue the state will take in.
Mizzou fans remember
While the latest scandal invovles a current NBA player, the Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier, as well as Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Missourians are familiar with another recent gambling scandal involving an NBA player.
In 2024, former University of Missouri standout Jontay Porter, then with the Toronto Raptors, was banned for life from the league after it was revealed he was betting on games.
The NBA was alerted to Porter’s activity when licensed sports betting operators and an organization that monitors legal betting markets tipped them off. The bets “ranged in size from $15 to $22,000, for a total of $54,094,” according to the NBA.
“The total payout from these bets was $76,059, resulting in net winnings of $21,965.”
Three of those bets included parlays in which Porter picked his Raptors to lose.
Similarly, the league became aware of Rozier’s activity when, according to Leara’s account to the Post-Dispatch:
“At least six legal sportsbooks detected suspicious betting activity related to Rozier, which set off the criminal investigation that culminated in the arrests.”
