As NBA officials pore over refereeing statistics and game videos to ferret out signs of game-fixing by disgraced referee Tim Donaghy — an effort NBA Commissioner David Stern said would consume "the fullness of the summer and the autumn" — how likely are they to find a damning pattern?
A look at the statistics already available to the public suggests the odds are long.
Certainly no patterns caught the eye of betting analysts before the disclosure last week that Donaghy is being investigated by the FBI for betting on NBA games, including games at which he officiated. Sports book operators in Las Vegas say there were no signs of suspicious betting action in town over the last two years, the period for which Donaghy is under investigation.
"We didn't have any discussions about that," says Jay Kornegay, director of the sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton. Adds Steve Fezzik, a professional bettor who is a featured contributor to LVAsports.com, "This wasn't on anybody's radar screen."
One reason may be that the NBA ranks relatively low in interest among Las Vegas bettors, who spend far more money on NFL and college basketball games. Las Vegas sports books seldom accept wagers of more than a few thousand dollars on an NBA game from any bettor.
Stern said this week that he was as yet unaware of any charges that Donaghy was involved in the "fixing of games," as opposed to merely betting. Even attributing suspicious calls to any one referee would be difficult, as the NBA does not release statistics on individual refs' in-game calls.
Instead, all fouls are attributed to each of the three referees assigned to that game. The three-man crews, moreover, are broken up and reassigned after every two or three games.
Stern said that the league has tried to sharpen its officiating in recent years by intensifying its postgame reviews of referees' calls.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
A look at the statistics already available to the public suggests the odds are long.
Certainly no patterns caught the eye of betting analysts before the disclosure last week that Donaghy is being investigated by the FBI for betting on NBA games, including games at which he officiated. Sports book operators in Las Vegas say there were no signs of suspicious betting action in town over the last two years, the period for which Donaghy is under investigation.
"We didn't have any discussions about that," says Jay Kornegay, director of the sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton. Adds Steve Fezzik, a professional bettor who is a featured contributor to LVAsports.com, "This wasn't on anybody's radar screen."
One reason may be that the NBA ranks relatively low in interest among Las Vegas bettors, who spend far more money on NFL and college basketball games. Las Vegas sports books seldom accept wagers of more than a few thousand dollars on an NBA game from any bettor.
Stern said this week that he was as yet unaware of any charges that Donaghy was involved in the "fixing of games," as opposed to merely betting. Even attributing suspicious calls to any one referee would be difficult, as the NBA does not release statistics on individual refs' in-game calls.
Instead, all fouls are attributed to each of the three referees assigned to that game. The three-man crews, moreover, are broken up and reassigned after every two or three games.
Stern said that the league has tried to sharpen its officiating in recent years by intensifying its postgame reviews of referees' calls.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
LinksMarker is a Web 2.0 content management system
Comments