Tag: cheating

The Hidden Game: How Sports Betting is Giving Power to the Mob and the NFL

This is a story that quickly disappeared: the NBA gambling scandal.  However, one of the great things about money is that it reveals a lot about the people who want it. In the gambling world, where easy money is a prospect for those who are lazy, the character of all endeavors is relatively easy to reveal.  And it’s not just the NBA; I would say the rigged games in favor of betting odds are much worse in the NFL.  In the age of legalized sports betting, the question isn’t just who will win the game—it’s whether the game itself is being played fairly. As billions of dollars flow through betting platforms and fantasy leagues, the integrity of professional sports is under more scrutiny than ever. Recent scandals in the NBA and questionable officiating in the NFL have reignited concerns that games may be influenced not just by athletic performance, but by money, power, and even organized crime.

The NBA was rocked by a recent FBI investigation led by Kash Patel, which exposed a network of players and insiders allegedly involved in illegal gambling activities. The scandal implicated figures like Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier, and Damon Jones, who were accused of sharing confidential injury information to manipulate betting outcomes. The scheme reportedly involved rigged poker games backed by mafia families and the use of cheating technologies like altered shuffling machines and hidden cameras.

This wasn’t just a case of players making side bets—it resembled insider trading. Athletes and coaches acted as “tippers,” passing non-public information to bettors who profited from the edge. The FBI’s involvement underscores the seriousness of the issue and suggests that this may be just the beginning of a broader crackdown.

The idea that sports can be rigged isn’t new. The infamous 1919 Black Sox scandal involved eight Chicago White Sox players who were accused of throwing the World Series in exchange for money from gamblers. Pete Rose, one of baseball’s greatest hitters, was banned for betting on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds, even back then.  These days, it can only be thought to be much, much worse.

In the NBA, referee Tim Donaghy admitted to betting on games he officiated and providing inside information to mob-connected bookies. His case revealed how easily a single official could influence the outcome of a match through foul calls, clock management, and momentum shifts.

Organized crime families like the Genovese, Gambino, Lucchese, and Bonanno have long used sports betting as a tool for money laundering and manipulation. With the legalization of sports betting in many states, the opportunities for corruption have only grown.  And would a referee be inclined to rig a game through penalties to cover a margin?  I would think the answer is an emphatic yes, and that it’s a problem that the NFL itself has very little control over.  Players aren’t welcomingly encouraged to criticize the referees.  They may disagree with the calls, but if they want to play the game, they have to honor the game within the game—the sports betting that is the real fuel for the industry. 

While basketball and baseball have their own vulnerabilities, the NFL may be the most susceptible sport to manipulation. Why? Because of the nature of clock management and the subjective power of referees.

In football, a single penalty can stop the clock, reverse a touchdown, or shift field position dramatically. Referees have enormous discretion in calling holding, pass interference, and roughing the passer—penalties that can change the momentum of a game in seconds.

A recent study from the University of Texas at El Paso found that referees disproportionately favor teams with large fan bases, such as the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs. This bias isn’t necessarily intentional, but it reflects the subtle pressures officials face in high-stakes environments.

One of the most glaring examples of potential manipulation came during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ matchup against the Detroit Lions. Tampa Bay, a team that had been gaining momentum and sitting at 4-1, faced a Detroit team also vying for NFC dominance.

The game was riddled with controversial calls:

• A missed tripping penalty on Baker Mayfield, who was clearly impeded while scrambling.

• A fourth-down catch by Cade Otton that was reviewed twice—despite NFL rules prohibiting double reviews.

• A reversal of a completed catch into a turnover on downs.

• Multiple missed defensive holding calls and phantom illegal contact penalties.

Mayfield, known for his competitive fire, publicly criticized the officiating, saying, “I work my ass off… when things I don’t deem are fair, I’m going to let somebody know.”

These calls didn’t just affect the scoreboard—they disrupted Tampa Bay’s rhythm, shifted momentum, and arguably changed the outcome of the game. For fans who know their team well, the inconsistencies were glaring.

The NFL is a multi-billion-dollar entertainment empire. When one team dominates the standings early in the season, it can lead to reduced viewer engagement and betting activity. A close, competitive playoff race keeps fans watching, betting, and spending.

If Tampa Bay had continued its winning streak, it could have created a lopsided picture in the NFC. By slowing their momentum—intentionally or not—the league maintains parity and keeps the narrative exciting. This benefits advertisers, sportsbooks, and the league itself.

Legalized betting has created a new layer of influence. Referees, who earn significantly less than star players, may be more susceptible to corruption. Even if the league itself isn’t orchestrating outcomes, individual officials could be incentivized to make calls that favor betting interests.

At some point, fans must ask: Is the NFL a sport or a scripted entertainment product?

Like professional wrestling, where outcomes are predetermined to maximize drama, the NFL may be leaning into narrative manipulation. Injuries, rivalries, and comeback stories make for compelling television—but when officiating inconsistencies align too neatly with betting odds, it raises eyebrows.

This doesn’t mean every game is rigged. Players still compete fiercely, and many games are decided by skill and strategy. However, the influence of money, media, and betting creates an environment where manipulation is not only possible but also profitable.

Legal sportsbooks have helped uncover scandals, such as the lifetime ban of NBA player Jontay Porter for betting violations. But they also create conflicts of interest. Integrity monitors like Sportradar and Genius Sports are financially tied to the leagues they’re supposed to oversee.

Betting is now embedded in broadcasts, apps, and team partnerships. Fans are encouraged to wager on everything from coin tosses to player stats. This normalization of gambling makes it increasingly difficult to distinguish between sport and speculation.

Despite these challenges, some teams still manage to win. Tampa Bay, led by Baker Mayfield and a strong coaching staff, has shown resilience. Even when calls go against them, they find ways to compete.

But it’s harder. When referees disrupt momentum, call phantom penalties, or ignore obvious infractions, it forces teams to play not just against their opponents—but against the system itself.

Professional sports are no longer just games—they’re entertainment products shaped by money, media, and betting interests. Fans must approach them with a critical eye, understanding that while the athleticism is real, the forces behind the scenes may not be.

The NBA scandal is a wake-up call. The NFL’s officiating inconsistencies are a warning. And the rise of legalized betting is a game-changer.

Enjoy the games. Cheer for your team. But remember: the real game is always happening off the field.

Rich Hoffman

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Voter Integrity in Ohio with Frank LaRose: How Republicans win everywhere, and not just with swing voters

It’s not really a big secret, but it’s probably the most important thing in the world regarding elections. Yes, Ron DeSantis did wonderfully in Florida the second time around; the first time, he could barely squeak out a win. But after an excellent first term, DeSantis was awarded with re-election by a very wide margin. Yet as much as he may have deserved it, the massive voter turnout in his favor didn’t just happen. What the real cause of it was that DeSantis worked on the election laws in Florida and made it harder to cheat so that in that next election, some of the old Democrat tricks that are applied all over the country weren’t so easy to perform. And that resulted in more votes for him being counted against an essentially rigged system. Our elections have not been secure for a very long time, and the little talked-about secret is that the powerful know about it and have allowed it to continue because it keeps them in power. Yet, if elections were tightly controlled in America, unbiased, of course, Republicans would win a majority of the time everywhere, in state races, in federal races, both House and Senate, governors, and especially presidents. A lot of professional pundits will say that we are a 47 – 53 country where either Republicans or Democrats will trade those bottom and top numbers every time, that there will never be any more blowout elections because we don’t have that kind of country, we are split down the middle with independents determining election outcomes. That is hogwash; that’s what the cheaters want you to think. The reality is that election fraud makes us look like a 50/50 nation while we are a conservative-leaning nation quite dramatically. The Florida example is just one of them, and DeSantis, not through performance but through election reform, turned it from a purple state to a solid red MAGA state for Republicans. 

Ohio is another state that had been trending purple but has been heading solidly toward a bright red state. And as much as I’d like to say that candidates like President Trump and J.D. Vance were great, it’s not that they won over a bunch of swing voters to win; it’s that Ohio has a fantastic secretary of state in Frank LaRose, who has made it very hard to cheat during elections. I had a chance to listen to him directly talk about election integrity in Ohio, and I put some of the videos on this site to review. I’ve met Frank LaRose many times, but this latest time was interesting because what Ohio has been doing regarding election integrity is quickly becoming the template for the rest of the country going into the 2024 election. Republicans would be wise not to worry about the issues so much on this one because that’s not what is going to win elections. What will win elections, and give the House a supermajority in Congress, and give control back to the Republicans in the Senate and, of course, the White House, is more election security.  Frank LaRose has put his hands around this election integrity problem, and it has been showing. And he’s done it by pushing photo I.Ds on election day. Voting machines that have a paper receipt for cross verification, and by making it illegal to have any machine connected to the internet. And on early voting, which Frank LaRose has testified to in Pennsylvania, where they have had a trainwreck there, Ohio logs the entries as they come in, whereas, in places like Pennsylvania, they don’t touch them until after the election, which is why they are still counting ballots well past election day and can no longer give those results on election day. 

A great example of the difference in election integrity by having a great Secretary of State could be seen in recent supreme court elections. Wisconsin just lost a Republican seat to a Soros-backed radical. The same thing was brewing to happen in Ohio, but because of election integrity in Ohio, Sharon Kennedy was able to win as Chief Justice and avoid progressive interference on the bench the way it has now happened in Wisconsin. Because of loose election laws in Wisconsin, the extreme progressive Janet Protasiewicz was able to win, giving liberals the new majority, which many think could be dangerous in establishing better election laws for better voter integrity. That is the real game that is going on out there, and the best way to deal with it is by investing in good Secretaries of State who can do as Frank LaRose has in Ohio, and that is get control of the voting system and make it as fair as possible, and secure. And by doing that, the truth of American elections will become obvious quickly. Republicans will win almost everywhere and by a wide margin. Where election chaos is allowed, or even promoted, then, and only then, will Democrats be competitive. America is not a 50/50 country determined by swing voters. It’s more of a 60/40 country in favor of Republicans, and that becomes obvious when you force voting machines to be off the internet and have voter photo I.D. Once Frank LaRose became Secretary of State, we saw in Ohio that Ohio was no longer purple. It wasn’t just Trump; the margins were consistent for other races, with very similar results. And in Florida, it used to be that certain counties were always late in reporting, so they could see how much they had to cheat to push the Democrats over the top. But DeSantis made that action much harder; since then, we have seen better election day results. Not just because of the candidate but because it was more reflective of the vote totals of the actual demographics. Everywhere that better election laws are reformed to prevent cheating, it will quickly become evident that Republicans will perform far better everywhere than the previous national trends have indicated. And that’s the lesson for all the swing states, like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.

It should be noted that even with all the debate in Georgia between Brian Kemp and Stacy Abrams after Kemp enacted better election methods making it harder to cheat, his election against Abrams wasn’t even close. The same could be said in Texas with Beto O’Rourke. Many thought that Texas was turning from red to purple, but with some tightening of the election methods to make it more fair for voter representation and security to protect the integrity of the voter, a lot of these liberal radical challengers have fallen away. And that is a little secret that nobody has really been talking about on the nightly news. And the same trends would be seen all over the country, even in places like California and New York. People just aren’t that liberal, and Democrats have only been able to gain power because of election fraud, whether its illegal aliens voting, Democrat cities stuffing ballots without supervision, early voter tampering with Facebook manipulation, bad voter rolls where dead people are still voting, several times,  it has only been through cheating that Democrats have been able to keep election results close in their favor. But if states give themselves a great Secretary of State like we have in Ohio, like Frank LaRose, they will all see a margin swing in the Republican direction of around 12%. And by doing that simple thing, Republicans will win most of their races in head-to-head matchups with any Democrat; it doesn’t matter who it is. Voter integrity is the key, not so much the policy discussion. Before 2024, states need to follow what Frank LaRose has been doing in Ohio, and if they do, Republicans will win big everywhere. 

Rich Hoffman

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