To the uninitiated, the arrests of Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones last week for allegations of involvement in rigged illegal poker games may have appeared like an unusual collision of worlds. How could prosecutors claim that former NBA players (one a current coach), professional gamblers, and even mafia members all ended up rubbing elbows as part of the same high-tech cheating scheme that allegedly began in 2019 and ran for several years?
But while some of the elements that appear to have led to a yearslong FBI investigation and sweeping arrests are certainly unique, underground poker games like these are somewhat commonplace. They’re often fueled by celebrities—the role prosecutors say Billups and Jones played here. They’re often backed or otherwise aided by organized crime. And they still regularly feature seedy characters running schemes, chief among which is cheating.
I dug inside the underbelly of private high-stakes poker games to find out how they work, why they’re often targets for the mob or other sordid characters, and why the Billups Games appear to be an especially unique kind of scam.
Let’s Play
Like with many elements of their lives, privacy is often paramount for celebrities who want to gamble. That’s how these private games typically get started.
“The general ecosystem is such that there are athletes, celebrities, wealthy businessmen, and the sort that are high-profile individuals that want to gamble but don’t necessarily want to do it under the constructs of a casino setting,” says Matt Berkey, a well-known poker professional who has played in private games like these for years. “It’s a social setting. Usually there’s party favors, girls, all the things you can’t have at the casino.”
Even in “straight” games that involve no cheating, celebrities like Billups and Jones (also often referred to as “whales”) are typically the straws that stir the drink. They’re generally wealthy and relative poker amateurs. Others in the game are often there explicitly to play alongside them. Conditions of the game are catered to their whims.
When professional poker players are invited to fill seats in the game, the celebrities often dictate this process too. Pros are often invited specifically because a whale has seen them on TV or because they’re known to be fun and willing to give plenty of action despite their skill advantage.
To the outside eye, that appears to have been how the Billups Game allegedly took shape.