Congress is requesting answers Adam Silver on five specific areas. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images

Congressional leaders sent a letter to NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Friday requesting a briefing on the league's gambling scandal by Oct. 31, calling the allegations of illegal sports betting and game-fixing "tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery" that raise serious concerns about sports betting and the integrity of sport in the NBA.

The bipartisan letter from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce comes one day after Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former NBA player Damon Jones were arrested in two separate federal gambling investigations. In his first public comments on the scandal, Silver told Amazon Prime on Friday night he was "deeply disturbed" by the allegations and had "a pit in my stomach."

The four-page congressional letter, signed by six committee members including Chairman Brett Guthrie and ranking member Frank Pallone, referenced the committee's history of investigating sports integrity issues, including steroid use in Major League Baseball and sexual abuse of Olympic athletes. It also stated illegal sports betting based on non-public information in the NBA "is not a new problem," referencing former NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleading guilty to federal charges for using insider information to bet on games he officiated in 2007.

The letter also specifically called out the NBA for previously clearing Rozier of wrongdoing in the same March 2023 game that is now at the center of federal criminal charges. According to the federal indictment, Rozier allegedly left a game early to facilitate a co-conspirator's winning bet, which produced hundreds of thousands of dollars in winnings to be split with him, by faking an injury and taking himself out of the game so that a friend could bet on his "under" statistics.

Congress is requesting answers on five specific areas, including whether the NBA's Code of Conduct for players and coaches effectively prohibits illegal activity; the disclosure of non-public information for the purposes of illegal betting schemes; any actions the NBA intends to take to limit the disclosure of nonpublic information for illegal purposes; and whether and how the NBA is reevaluating the terms of its partnerships with sports betting companies.

Congress requests briefing from Adam Silver on NBA gambling scandal by Oct. 31