Fanatics Sportsbook CEO explains how NBA scandal was caught by legal market

The bombshell NBA scandal, which was revealed within the scope of the FBI investigation last week, led many people to question the sports betting market and even its legal aspect.

This was especially true of Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, who was among more than two dozen arrested for his role in the FBI investigation into sports betting; He allegedly gave non-public information about his injury status and when he would leave the game to place certain bets.

A similar situation occurred with former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter, who was indefinitely banned from the NBA last season and pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. Porter, who is linked to the current FBI investigation, was previously convicted of disclosing confidential information about his medical condition to sports bettors and placing bets on games in violation of league rules.

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So, seeing something like this happening, perhaps on a larger scale, Fanatics Betting & Gaming CEO Matt King is “disappointed” to see “criminal elements” coming into play in a market that is growing exponentially as more states legalize it. But given his expertise, King explained why he thinks this case proves that the legal side of sports betting works.

“If you look at the chronology, suspicious betting activity was flagged immediately, reported immediately, and investigations were initiated immediately,” King told Fox News Digital earlier this week. “You got the right people involved. Frankly, the leagues were aggressively trying to figure out what was going on, but they don’t have subpoena power, so they were able to see some of it. But everyone worked cooperatively with the FBI, who had subpoena power and were actually able to intervene. Ultimately, the perpetrators were caught and I’m confident they will be brought to justice.”

Fanatics Sportsbook is a newer operation and was in the early stages of development when Rozier was accused of involvement in possible betting irregularities at a game on March 23, 2023. But King’s experience in this industry goes beyond his work with Fanatics Betting & Gaming, having served as CEO and CFO of FanDuel in previous years.

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So when it comes to the question about the future of sports betting, specifically the prop betting market, King offered a perfect analogy.

“Those things are inevitable, and I look at it from that perspective; the parallel I draw is the stock market,” he explained. “People have been trading stocks for hundreds of years and the risk of insider trading is always present. As a result, there is a healthy and aggressive regulatory enforcement regime to ensure that people do not trade on insider information. This is no different.”

“I look at this as a great case study of the whole market and regulations and industry participants working together in harmony. I hope the perpetrators set an example because the deterrence element is just as important.”

Matthew King, CEO of Fanatics Betting and Gaming, at Fanatics Sports Betting at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on September 14, 2025. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)

King also gave some perspective on how these patterns were caught in the first place and what an operation like Fanatics Sportsbook does when that flag comes up once the bets start coming in.

“Often the first sign of suspicious activity is volume well above what we expected,” King said of a suspicious bet. “This often leads you to further investigation and gives clues. Especially when there is an inadequate [prop bet] or a low-level tennis match or something like that is beyond expectations, then the real question is, ‘Where does it come from? Who’s making the bet? Where are they making this bet? Is this consistent with their historical betting patterns?’ Questions like this. We have a lot of analytics resources and we have a lot of people on staff who spend time looking at that data and making sure we understand it.

“A lot of times you get a false flag. You dig deep and it’s like, ‘Hey, we weren’t expecting this much action on the underdog, and it turns out the popular underdog has a big Instagram story and people are piling on some of the existing stories in the sport,’ which is great. That’s healthy. So, there’s a lot of false flags, but some of those flags that end up turning out to be something questionable, and we report that to the appropriate authorities.”

In short, King knows that, as with any market forecast, there will be those who want to gain the upper hand. Therefore, the future of betting on any professional sport will include those who try to cheat the system.

But King thinks the strongest point to understand about this alleged criminal activity is that having a legal market, along with aggressive regulation and monitoring, can at least reduce the potential for illegality.

A self-service betting kiosk displaying NBA match odds at Fanatics Sportsbook on November 23, 2024 in Columbus, Ohio. (Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)

“The most important fundamental point of this conversation is that everyone understands that sports betting will exist no matter what,” he said. “You can’t show me a period of history, a country in the world, a sport that was popular and didn’t have some level of sports betting. We just have to accept that sports betting will exist. The question then is: Do you want it to exist as a legal market or as an illegal market?”

“The reality is that this activity was caught because it was a legal market, because you had relationships with the leagues and you had integrity monitoring services where you could flag data and people could investigate. If you didn’t have legalized sports betting, all you would have were illegal markets with no commitment to integrity or consumer protection, which is the other side to remember. If you’re betting on an illegal sports betting site, they have no obligation or interest to make sure you’re betting within your means.”

“I think the best thing for the integrity of the game, the best thing for consumer protection, is a two-pronged strategy where a legal and robust market is paired with aggressive enforcement against the illegal market.”

In addition to having significant Responsible Gaming tools for consumers, Fanatics Sportsbook also has a unique “Fair Gaming” policy that protects bettors from premature player injuries.

Charlotte Hornets guard Terry Rozier (3) attempts a pass against the Boston Celtics in the second half at Spectrum Center. (Nell Redmond/USA Today Sports)

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This consumer protection addresses obvious situations where key players are injured, as well as a potential situation like the Rozier incident. As a team’s starting guard, Rozier has multiple bets each night he’s on the field, but if he leaves early and never returns, Fanatics Sportsbook will void those bets through Fair Play.

Overall, there is no real way to eliminate the illegal aspect of sports betting, but operations like Fanatics Sportsbook and leaders like King continue to put in place the necessary regulations, technology, and collaborations with leagues to ensure a fair and level playing field for everyone who wants to play.

“We will always be at the forefront with leagues and regulators on what is the right mix of betting to offer,” King said. “But I would say, there’s a balance. Because ultimately, if you have a legal sports betting market, but one where the regulations are so strict that they’re not giving consumers what they want, then they’re going to go into the illegal market. You undermine the value of having a legal market. So I look at it as finding the right balance that allows us to limit and make common sense decisions, but also do something that consumers want.”

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