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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

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Defector

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2025 gift subs

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Sarah York

A general view during Derek Steven's New Sportsbook Venture "Circa Sports" Launch at Golden Gate Hotel &amp; Casino on June 1, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Derek Steven’s New Sportsbook Venture “Circa Sports” Launches At Golden Gate Hotel & Casino

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Sports Gamblers Are Dorks

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Patrick Redford

FBI Director Kash Patel leads news conference to announce arrests tied to illegal sports betting and poker game schemes, in New York City on October 23, 2025. NBA coach Chauncey Billups of the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were arrested on Thursday for alleged involvement in illegal gambling. Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and member of the NBA Hall of Fame, was arrested in connection with rigged illegal poker games tied to the Mafia, FBI Director Kash Patel said. Rozier and a former NBA player, Damon Jones, were arrested in a sports betting case, Patel said at a press conference in New York. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)

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Podcasts

Everything Is Gambling Now, With Liz Franczak

A detailed view of a hand holding a Fanduel Sports Network–branded microphone during an interview after the Detroit Pistons defeated the Boston Celtics on February 26, 2025 in Detroit, Michigan.

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Gambling

The NBA Media Is Not Built To Cover A Gambling Scandal

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Ray Ratto

Group shot of the 1919 White Sox. They would after this year be known as the "Black Sox Scandal" team, due to the allegation that eight members of the team accepted bribes to lose the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds.

Group Shot of 1919 White Sox

Baseball Frees Its Gambling Ghosts

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