Nba Ref Gambling
Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy is back in a striped shirt, playing a crooked official in the wresting ring. Donaghy once served prison time in a basketball gambling scandal.
Donaghy was in the ring this week as a corrupt referee in the Major League Wrestling show Fusion. During the match, Donaghy helped wrestler Richard Holliday defeat fan favorite Savio Vega for the Caribbean heavyweight championship.
Everything was on the up and up,” Donaghy asserts in a staged interview after the bout, called a strap match.
Several people from the sports-betting underworld had, in effect, staked Battista a bankroll - a fund he was now using to bet on games officiated by this one NBA referee. One member of the group. Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy is back in pinstripes. Only this time, he was in the squared circle. Donaghy made his debut as a “crooked” referee in the main event of Major League Wrestling.
An angry Vega says, “You cheated on me,” and follows Donaghy off-camera as if seeking a confrontation.
The 54-year-old Donaghy later said he thought fans would find the show entertaining. He added that he was “a little out of my comfort zone” but believed it went well, according to Sports Illustrated.
“Wrestling is a form of entertainment, and I’m having fun with it,” Donaghy said. “It got a little more physical than I expected, but it was definitely exciting. Everyone was very helpful and professional, and I hope I’m part of it again.”
‘Mafia Heavyweights’
A native of the Philadelphia area, Donaghy officiated in the National Basketball Association from 1994 until he resigned in 2007.
After his resignation, he pleaded guilt to charges of conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information through interstate commerce, according to ESPN.
Donaghy cooperated with prosecutors in the case and received a 15-month prison sentence.
Nba Ref Betting On Games
In a book published in 2009, Donaghy writes, “During this dark period, I associated with sleazy bookies and reputed Mob figures, slowly becoming someone my family and friends no longer recognized.”
He added that he “passed inside information to wise guys who were making millions of dollars on my picks and lining the pockets of Mafia heavyweights.”
The book is titled Personal Foul: A First-Person Account of the Scandal That Rocked the NBA. In 2013, Donaghy spoke at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas.
Pete Rose’s Betting Advice
Donaghy appears in a recent podcast series titled Whistleblower, by sports journalist Tim Livingston. The multi-part podcast examines illegal gambling and Mafia influence in the NBA.
Donaghy, who lives in Sarasota, Florida, is associated with a sports betting service called Ref Picks: Tim Donaghy’s Handicappers. The Ref Picks website notes that Donaghy knows “how and what can affect a score.” The site adds that Donaghy has a “leg up on most handicappers” because of his “insider experience in officiating games.”
Donaghy is not the only former sports figure affiliated with a sports betting company. Former Major League Baseball player and manager Pete Rose also is associated with a handicapping service. In the 1980s, Rose was banned from baseball for betting on and against his team.
Rose recently agreed to serve as a national spokesman for oddsmaker Wayne Allyn Root’s Vegas Winners sports-wagering analysis and advice service.
Movie About Nba Ref Gambling
This comes as sports betting is spreading across the country. Nationwide, 20 states and Washington, D.C., allow sports wagering either on mobile devices or in-person at casino sportsbooks. Legislation to allow sports betting is up for consideration in Georgia and other states.
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Nba Ref Gambling Podcast
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Former NBA referee Tom Donaghy was in the middle of a major scandal that led to his arrest on charges related to a mob-backed betting scheme and accusing him of betting on NBA games that he officiated. The scandal, which is considered the biggest in NBA history, is now the focus of a new podcast from Tenderfoot TV: Whistleblower. The podcast will debut on Thursday, and PopCulture.com has an exclusive clip of the first 10 minutes of the premiere episode.
In the clip, sports journalist and host Tim Livingston reveals why he wanted to investigate the scandal. Livington, who is based in Los Angeles, said in the clip he's been trying to make this podcast for eight years, but that for 'reasons that will soon become clear, it's been pretty much impossible to make.' Livingston added that the story starts in 2012, five years after the NBA Betting Scandal. He wrote an article about how Donaghy 'messed up' and 'broke the law,' and also addressed the 'elephant in the room. [...] According to Donaghy, the NBA was fixing games.'
The clip also features former NBA player Rasheed Wallace, who talks about one incident he had with Donaghy. 'The ref called a foul on me,' Wallace said. 'Donaghy is way on the other side of the court and he hits me with a [technical foul]. It shocks everybody because I didn't dispute the call, so he gave me a [technical foul] saying I threw the ball at him. I'm like 'The man is less than four feet from me. If I really want to hit him, I could really hit him.' Wallace then says Donaghy called another technical foul on him, which led to Wallace being ejected from the game. Once the game was over, Wallace confronted Donaghy about the foul called on him.
'I said 'Donaghy, I'm going to get my money back for that bulls— tech you called.' He said, 'What?' and I said 'You heard me.' Wallace proceeded to say that's when Donaghy came at him, which then led to a call from NBA security. Wallace told league security that Donaghy was 'making it too obvious' that he was cheating. Wallace was suspended for seven games, costing him $1.2 million. However, Wallace then said he got a call from NBA legend Joe Dumars years later telling him that he was right about Donaghy.
'When I started investigating this scandal eight years ago, I knew there was more to the story,' Livingston said in a press release. “Now, having reached the end of the road almost a decade later, I can’t believe how deep it goes. I’m incredibly thankful to Donald Albright and the Tenderfoot TV team for giving us the platform to tell this story and bring the truth to light.' New episodes of Whistleblower will be released every Thursday on all podcast platforms.