Former professional sports bettor and high-stakes poker player Haralabos Voulgaris appeared as a guest on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast and offered even more insight on the betting controversies that have embroiled the NBA.
The Canadian gambler brings some first-hand insight into the inner workings of the league, having previously spent three years as the director of quantitative research and development for the Dallas Mavericks. He is also one of the most successful NBA bettors in history, reportedly winning more than $100 million. These days, he is the owner of Spanish soccer club CD Castellon.
Naturally, the recent sports betting scandal involving NBA players and coaches was a major focus of the conversation. NBA coach Chauncey Billups, former player Damon Jones, and current player Terry Rozier were arrested for allegedly tipping off sports bettors about the availability and injury status of certain players.
NBA Under Fire
“It’s like the worst thing you can put in an account because it’s like, ‘Why does this guy want to bet on Terry Rozier’s under?’ My point is it’s just easy to catch. Like the line is going to move, it’s suspicious, and then the player happens to pull out with an injury. So that’s like the dumbest way to cheat.”
But the problem may be more widespread than most NBA fans and bettors realize, according to Voulgaris. Some teams aren’t incentivized to win and instead tank games for better draft prospects, enabling potential game integrity concerns. That includes using rosters of lower-level players that may be more susceptible to game fixing.
“Everyone in the league (and) every player in the league knows that tanking exists and therefore the integrity of the game is just not there,” he said. “It’s not pristine, and it’s not even close to being pristine.”
An Encounter With Adam Silver
Voulgaris insinuated some possible shortsightedness in the league’s approach to sports betting. He recalled a conversation during his time with the Mavericks with NBA commissioner Adam Silver. At the time, there were rumors that Lebron James punched a whiteboard and injured his hand during the NBA Finals.
His team went on to lose the series in four games, and Voulgaris was concerned that the information wasn’t revealed publicly until after the series. This was when the league began to embrace sports betting, and Voulgaris believed this presented an integrity issue.
“Someone’s going to have that information, and that just doesn’t seem right,” he said. “You’re selling to the fans that you’re betting on something that is pure in the sense that they have as much information as they should have. And my point is just the ability to control that information from a gambling standpoint.”
“It’s not like stock options… there’s always going to be insider trading. There’s always going to be inside information. But I think they underestimated how pervasive it could be in basketball.”
The $100 Million Man
Voulgaris offered some insight on his own betting through the years, which often involved shady betting operators, Canadian sportsbooks, having Floyd Mayweather and Dan Bilzerian place bets for him, and transporting cash in duffel bags.
He also agreed with the idea that sportsbooks don’t want big bettors like him to win.
“They’re selling gambling to the masses and then if you win, they won’t even allow you to keep betting. The moment you show an ability to win, you’ll be limited and you’ll be shown the door.”
Mafia-Rigged Poker Games
A poker player himself, Voulgaris detailed his own experiences with high-stakes games and some concerns he’s had in the past.
“I won’t play in a high-stakes poker game unless I know intimately who’s running the game,” he said. “I’ve had situations back… in 2010 or 2011 when I played in a game in L.A. with some characters and they wouldn’t allow me to take a deck home with me to make sure [it] doesn’t have invisible ink on it or doesn’t have RFID scans.”
However, he admits that the shuffling machine that mobsters allegedly used to fix poker games would have gotten him. Voulgaris said he didn’t realize rigging the machines to that extent was possible.
While playing in Europe, Voulgaris said he once saw an opponent using a camera in his ring to track cards.
“To make a long story short, poker is very treacherous,” he said. “I feel like if you’re playing in poker games for high stakes, you have to be very, very careful because as long as poker’s been around, there’s people who want to cheat.”
Juicy Poker Games
Voulgaris was underwhelmed with the players used to lure in high-stakes players, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and NBA journeyman and Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Damon Jones.
However, he noted that at least some of the league’s bigger names have been known to play for high stakes. He recalled seeing former Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks power forward Antoine Walker bringing a bag of cash to the Bellagio.
“He showed up with a bag, there was cash in it. No one knew how much money it was. And every time he lost, he reached down and put more money on the table. It was weird. He had a lot of money in that bag.”
Voulgaris went on to say that former Celtics shooting guard Paul Pierce played in some cash games in the late 2000s and early 2010s that concerned him.
“Those people running those games I did not trust,” he said. “I’m not saying those games were cheated because I have no idea and I didn’t play in them and I don’t know. But I know that I wouldn’t personally play in those games.”
Watch The Full Interview
From a person who spent much of his life betting on the NBA and made millions from the industry, it is surprising that Voulgaris expressed opposition to some aspects of wide-open legalized betting in the U.S.
“It’s completely antithetical to a functioning society to promote this, to young men in particular. It’s predatory in nature. It’s highly addictive. It’s just a sense of financial nihilism,” he said. “People want to gamble on it, great. It should not be advertised.”
