NBA ref investigation contradicted by stats

NBA ref investigation contradicted by stats

A sports information betting web site has revealed statisticss that contradict claims of a recent NBA investigation.

A 116-page report released by the NBA on Thursday found no evidence of illegal activity by any referee other than Tim Donaghy, who currently is serving a 15-month prison sentence for a gambling scandal that tarnished the league's reputation.

The disgraced referee was charged with betting on games he officiated and providing inside information to gambling associates to win their bets. After being implicated, Donaghy had said there was misconduct by other referees and league personnel regarding favoritism of certain players and teams.

However, the report, conducted by former federal prosecutor Lawrence Pedowitz over a 14-month period, disputed those allegations.

A report released Friday by pregame.com, a sports information betting web site, showed that results of games may have indeed been affected.

According to the report, the first 15 games of the 2006-07 refereed by Donaghy had big enough betting to move the point spread by at least 1 1/2 points. The teams in which the line moved in favor of beat the spread each time.

"To conclude Donaghy did not fix the games you have to believe that a person troubled enough to provide inside information to criminals was able to referee games in which he had a financial interest without any bias. Plus, you have to believe that information allowed big bettors to beat Las Vegas 15 straight times," said RJ Bell of pregame.com.

Donaghy called Foster 134 times from October 2006 through April 2007. The NBA's investigation was satisfied with the reason behind the calls was that the men were friends, even though - according to Fox Sports - the calls "stopped abruptly" when it was believed that Donaghy stopped gambling.

Pregame.com also reported during the 2006-07 period under investigation, 10 games refereed by Foster had lopsided enough betting on one team to move the spread by at least two points. The 10 teams in which the line moved in favor also beat the spread each time.

Combined, the two questionable referees had big line moves in 13 percent of their games. A random sample of the first 100 NBA games of December 2007 resulted in only six percent of games having a line move of two or more points.


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