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Read Full BioSix former UK basketball players have been sanctioned for their involvement in a match-fixing and betting scandal.
The investigations led by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the British Basketball Federation (BBF) revealed five Surrey Scorchers players were involved in fixing match outcomes during the 2022-23 season.
Two players, Quincy Taylor and Charleston Dobbs, have been hit with lifetime bans and fines of £3,000 ($4,000) by the BBF. The bans have been extended globally by FIBA.
A report by the UK Gambling Commission revealed the sanctions, noting that the Commission assisted in the investigations.
A further three players, Shakem Johnston, Padiet Wang, and Joshua McFolley, were also sanctioned by FIBA for offenses during the same season.
Johnson and Wang have been given lifetime bans with eligibility for reduction of suspension. McFolley, meanwhile, has been banned globally until September 2034.
The former Detroit Mercy guard is currently 28, meaning he will be in his late 30s when the ban expires. The players have been given the right to appeal the sanctions.
One final player, Dean Wanliss, received a lesser penalty for betting on basketball matches between 2019 and 2021. Wanliss has not been implicated in match-fixing. The player was fined and suspended for three years for his offenses.
Basketball Heavily Affected By Suspicious Betting
A recent case in Eastern Michigan highlighted suspicious betting activity on a college basketball match. Basketball is second only to soccer in the number of matches flagged each year for suspicious betting activity.
In 2024, 187 basketball matches were flagged as suspicious, which was more than all other sports except soccer’s 721 flags.
One high-profile case led to NBA referee Tim Donaghy receiving a 15-month prison sentence for sharing insider information with gamblers. In the wake of the Donaghy case, the NBA has tightened its rules around betting accounts and insider information.
Players continue to be implicated in scandals, however. Last year, NBA player Jontay Porter was given a lifetime ban for disclosing information to bettors about his injury status.
The rise in popularity of prop bets makes any information regarding injury status a potential money-spinner. In Porter’s case, a co-conspirator was criminally charged for placing bets totaling $54,000, leading to profits of $22,000.
Betting Scandals: A Long History In Basketball
Betting scandals are far from a new phenomenon. There were 33 players implicated in a point-shaving scandal in college basketball matches back in the 40s.
Throughout the years, organized crime groups have also been involved in various scandals, including reportedly paying players at Boston College to fix point spreads during the 1978-1979 season.
Michael Jordan is also a famous big bettor. Jordan claims that he does not have a gambling problem, but has a “competition problem”. A book was written by Jordan’s former golfing partner Richard Esquinas detailing the extent of the 6-time NBA champion’s gambling exploits.
The book, titled ‘Michael and Me: Our Gambling Addiction… My Cry for Help.’ revealed that Jordan ran up more than $1.2 million in golf gambling debts, although the former player denies this claim.
The long fight between basketball leagues to protect the sport looks set to continue. The NBA has recently appealed to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to increase its oversight of sports prediction markets, claiming that these markets risk compromising the integrity of the sport.
In a letter to the CFTC, NBA Vice-President Alexandra Roth wrote: “the integrity risks posed by sports prediction markets are more significant and more difficult to manage than those presented by legal, regulated sports gambling.”
