The NBA, the Mob, and Rigged Poker Games: Operation Royal Flush Goes to Trial November 2

One of the biggest poker-cheating prosecutions in American history goes to trial in six weeks. Operation Royal Flush, the Eastern District of New York federal case charging 31 defendants with running a network of rigged high-stakes poker games backed by organized crime, has collected 15 guilty pleas, is set for a November 2 trial date, and has Chauncey Billups, Basketball Hall of Famer and former Portland Trail Blazers head coach, as its most prominent remaining defendant. He has pleaded not guilty. For poker players, this case is required reading.

What Operation Royal Flush Was

Federal prosecutors say members and associates of the Bonanno, Genovese, and Gambino crime families ran high-stakes poker games at private locations across Manhattan, Las Vegas, Miami, and the Hamptons starting in at least 2019. Wealthy players were lured in with the promise of playing cards alongside professional athletes. The games were rigged from the start. Players were cheated out of approximately $7 million over the life of the scheme, according to the DOJ. When players refused to pay their losses, organized crime figures used threats, intimidation, and violence to collect.

The cheating methods alleged in the indictment are the most sophisticated ever documented in a federal gambling case. Prosecutors say the operation used: modified electronic shuffling machines that controlled the order of cards before they were dealt; poker chip trays fitted with hidden cameras that read players’ hole cards; an X-ray table that could see through the backs of face-down cards; and specialty glasses with built-in X-ray technology to read marked cards. Victims sat across from technology built specifically to ensure they could not win. Unknown to them, everyone in the room was part of the fraud, including the players, the dealers, the shuffling machines, and the chip trays.

Billups, Jones, and the “Face Card” Role

The scheme needed a front. Prosecutors say former NBA players and coaches served as “Face Cards”, celebrities whose presence convinced wealthy marks that a private underground game was a legitimate, exclusive experience rather than a mob-run trap.

Chauncey Billups, a five-time All-Star, 2004 NBA Finals MVP, and Hall of Fame point guard who was coaching the Trail Blazers when he was arrested, is charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Prosecutors allege he drew players into games he knew were rigged and shared in the proceeds. He denies all wrongdoing. He was arrested in Portland on October 23, 2025, the day after the Trail Blazers’ season-opening loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and released on a $5 million bond secured by his Colorado home.

Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones pleaded guilty in April 2026 to his role in Operation Royal Flush and in a separate but related sports betting case. In the poker scheme, Jones admitted to serving as a Face Card. “He lured unsuspecting victims to high-stakes rigged poker games,” said Eastern District U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. Jones is awaiting sentencing.

The Related Betting Case: Operation Nothing But Net

Running alongside Operation Royal Flush is a separate FBI case dubbed Operation Nothing But Net, which charged six defendants with manipulating bets on NBA games using non-public injury and lineup information across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.

Prosecutors identified at least seven specific games under scrutiny. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier is the most prominent defendant in this case, accused of sharing non-public information and, in one documented instance, leaving a February 2023 game after nine minutes with a reported foot injury, in a season where he averaged more than 35 minutes per game, allowing co-conspirators to profit from pre-placed bets. On May 28, 2026, a superseding indictment added a charge that Rozier accepted a $100,000 bribe to alter his performance. Rozier has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His travel is restricted to Florida, Ohio, New York City, and Long Island.

The Operation Nothing But Net case also links back to the Jontay Porter scandal. Porter, the former Raptors center who manipulated his own performance statistics, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and has been permanently banned from the NBA.

• Read more: Jontay Porter From NBA Was Fixing Bets in a Deal With Poker Player

Where the Case Stands: 15 Guilty Pleas, Trial November 2

Fifteen of the 31 Operation Royal Flush defendants have pleaded guilty. The first wave of six confirmed guilty pleas, entered before the June 11, 2026 status conference, included Damon Jones, Saul Becher, Kenny Han, Osman “Albanian Bruce” Hoti, Robert Stroud, and Seth Trustman.

A second wave in July 2026 included Ammar “Flapper Poker” Awawdeh, who allegedly ran some of the games, Shane “Sugar Shane” Hennen, a sports betting influencer with 70,000 Instagram followers, and Nicholas “Fat Nick” Minucci, a Gambino crime family associate previously convicted of a racially motivated assault.

The government’s evidence includes 259 hours of secret recordings. Judge Ramon Reyes of the Eastern District of New York refused a prosecution request to delay the trial to January 2027, despite scheduling conflicts with two of the three assigned prosecutors. The November 2, 2026 trial date stands. Billups, who has not coached since October 22, 2025, the night before his arrest, continues to deny the charges.

The investigation remains open. Prosecutors told the court in March 2026 that evidence they were examining “will implicate additional defendants.”

The Industry’s Convenient Amnesia

One week ago, on September 15, the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS sent a joint letter to state officials demanding lifetime betting bans for anyone who harasses athletes, coaches, or their families, and calling for national cross-state exclusion lists and real-time monitoring by sportsbooks.

The letter blames the rise of sports betting for increased harassment from losing gamblers. All five of those leagues have official gambling partners. All five promote betting on their broadcasts as an “enhanced viewing experience.” None of them mention Operation Royal Flush, Operation Nothing But Net, or the fact that the NBA’s own internal review of Terry Rozier in 2024 cleared him of wrongdoing before federal prosecutors charged him anyway.

The leagues want the money from gambling. They do not want the accountability that comes with it. That is not a new position. It is just more visible now that a Hall of Fame coach is six weeks from a federal trial.

• Read more: Pro Jared Griener Says He Was Hogtied and Robbed of His Entire WSOP Bankroll in Las Vegas

Why It Matters to Poker

Every serious poker player who has ever sat in a private game should read this indictment. The cheating methods here are not theoretical. They are documented, charged, and, in multiple cases, admitted by defendants who pleaded guilty. A modified shuffling machine that controls card order before the first hand is dealt. A chip tray with a camera reading your hole cards before you act. Glasses that let the dealer see marked ink your eyes cannot detect. An X-ray table showing the operator every card in the deck.

Celebrity poker is the lure. It was in Operation Royal Flush, and it operates the same way in private games that never get investigated. The promise of playing against a famous athlete creates a social proof that disarms due diligence. Victims at these games were not naive. They were wealthy, experienced, and they still walked into a room designed to take their money with technology they could not see and would not believe existed. The house did not just have an edge. The house knew your hand before you did.

The trial begins November 2. We will be covering it.

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• Sources: ESPN, LA Mag, Complex, CasinoBeats, Wikipedia, SB Nation.
• Article originally produced at poker.pro.