You Can Bet On It

I was mildly surprised Michael Jordan allowed the subject of his gambling to be included in “The Last Dance.” My guess is that he took it as another opportunity to convince the public that he did nothing wrong, that he was only guilty of being a “compulsive competitor,” not a “compulsive gambler.”

I covered the Bulls-Knicks Eastern Conference finals series in 1993 for The Oregonian, during which the Jordan gambling affair took place. It was an intense, physical series in which the top-seeded Knicks beat No. 2 seed Chicago in the first two games at Madison Square Garden, before the Bulls stormed back to take the final four contests and the series. (I have framed at home a series of plays New York coach Pat Riley drew up during timeouts on blue sheets of paper, which were dumped in a garbage can and retrieved by me from my courtside press seat near the Knicks bench.)

Following are three stories I filed that week about the situation.

May 27, 1993

Gambling Report Irks Jordan

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Nobody talked much about basketball Thursday afternoon as the Chicago Bulls met the media after a workout session at their suburban practice facility.

The subject that had the media hopping — and Michael Jordan hopping mad — was Jordan’s visit to an Atlantic City casino Monday night, on the eve of Tuesday’s Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals at Madison Square Garden.

The New York Times reported Thursday that Jordan took a limousine for the 90-minute drive to Atlanta City Monday afternoon, that the Bulls star arrived about 5 p.m., was seen in Bally’s Grand Casino as late as 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, and that he lost $5,000 while playing blackjack in a private area in the baccarat pit.

Jordan has a well-known fondness for gambling. Last year, he was investigated by NBA officials but not reprimanded after writing checks to cover $165,000 in golf and gambling debts to a convicted drug dealer, James “Slim” Bouler, in North Carolina. Jordan also was seen often in a Monte Carlo casino last summer while the U.S. Olympic team practiced there before heading to Barcelona.

The 30-year-old guard scored a game-high 36 points in Chicago’s 96-91 loss to the New York Knicks Tuesday night, but 25 of them came in the first half, and he missed his final four shots as a Bulls rally fell short in the closing minutes. Jordan finished the game only 12 of 32 from the field as the Bulls fell behind 2-0 in the series.

(Jordan was 1 for 7 from 3-point range and 11 for 13 from the foul line. He had nine rebounds, one assist, two steals and three turnovers in 39 minutes. The other Bulls combined to make 19 of 40 shots from the field, including 3 of 5 on 3-point attempts.)

“Jordan justified his reputation, scoring 36 points … but with more rest, might he have scored 46 points?” Times columnist Dave Anderson wrote. “With more rest, might he have scored more than 11 points in the second half, especially in the final minutes when the Bulls needed every basket?”

The insinuation was that Jordan didn’t do all he could to get himself properly prepared for Game 2, and the three-time MVP was anxious to dispel that idea when he met with a mob of reporters Thursday.

“I had my father and a couple of friends in town, and they had leased a limo,” he said. “So instead of sitting around the hotel, we went up to Atlantic City about 4 in the afternoon.”

Jordan said he played blackjack until about 11 p.m., then left in the limo for New York, arriving at his hotel at 12:30 a.m. He said he was in bed by 1 a.m., rose at 9 a.m., and then took part in the team’s 10 a.m. game-day shootaround prior to the 8 p.m. game in the Garden.

“Whoever saw me there at 1 o’clock, 2:30 in the morning, I’d like to see that person,” Jordan said, the tone of his voice bordering on anger. “I certainly will lay a lawsuit on them. I was not out that late. I got my eight hours of sleep.

“And no, I didn’t lose $5,000, $4,000 or $3,000. I lost, but I didn’t lose that much. Some things have been taken totally out of context. They’re fabricating things that are not true.”

Jordan has had a mostly positive experience with the media through his career, but Thursday he made it clear he felt he was being treated unfairly. He even levied a threat toward his future availability for interviews.

“If my life comes to where what I do in my free time is scrutinized, then there is no need to even talk to you guys,” he said. “It’s aggravating. It’s attacking my private life and I really don’t like it, don’t agree with it.

“You’re making me look like I’m not responsible. I know it’s important to get my rest, my food, my health and all that stuff. I take that very seriously this time of year. I don’t like when people challenge that when they don’t know the true story.

“I was just trying to relax instead of sitting there in my room listening to media hype about the first game. I didn’t want to go out to a restaurant. If I’d had my golf clubs I’d probably have gone golfing, but then you’d have criticized me for that. I was just trying to get my mind away from basketball.

“It really hurt me that it was taken out of context to make me look like I wasn’t doing what was best for my team.”

Jordan heard of the published report Thursday morning and discussed the matter before practice with Coach Phil Jackson and some of his teammates.

Jackson said he has no curfew for his players on the road and backed his superstar 100 percent.

“We don’t need a curfew,” Jackson said. “These are adults, not children.

“Michael Jordan knows how to handle himself. He had plenty of time to rest. I have no problem with what he did at all. What’s wrong with it? It’s better than going out in Manhattan on Monday night, in my opinion. I have a lot of friends in New York who will pick up a car at 11 o’clock and go down to Atlantic City, too.”

May 28, 1993

Jordan Misses Point: Seedy Side of Gambling Can Hurt Reputation

CHICAGO — Two things ticked off Michael Jordan about the published report of his Monday night visit to Atlantic City before Game 2 of Chicago’s Eastern Conference final series in New York.

First, Jordan was upset because eyewitnesses allegedly saw him in a casino as late as 2:30 a.m., which suggested he wasn’t getting his necessary rest on the eve of the most important game of the season.

Jordan also didn’t like the account that had him dropped $5,000 at the blackjack tables.

“I lost, but not that much,” Jordan said Thursday, the day the news broke in the New York Times.

There was nothing in Jordan’s play in Game 2 that suggests he didn’t get back to the hotel early for a good night’s sleep, he claimed. He scored 36 points, and while his shooting was off — it has been all season at Madison Square Garden — he was bout the only thing the Bulls had going all game long.

And even if he’d lost $5,000, that’s a pittance to a man who makes $35 million a year in salary and endorsements.

This was no earth-shaking revelation. Jordan engaged in a legal activity. The Bulls have no curfew on the road, and Jordan said he was in his hotel room asleep by 1 a.m. He says he only wanted to get away from the pressures of the series, to relax with a diversion. That seems reasonable.

The problem with all this, though, is a disturbing trend toward gambling as a passion in Jordan’s life and a lack of awareness by the man of a very sensitive issue to the powers-at-be in the NBA.

Jordan’s involvement with convicted gambler “Slim” Bouler and the $165,000 in gambling and golf debts that came to light last year didn’t slam the superstar’s reputation with the public, but it came perilously close.

Now we know he spent plenty of time in the casinos in Monte Carlo during training camp for last summer’s Olympic Games. That he ventured to Las Vegas for a night of “relaxation” before this year’s All-Star Game at Salt Lake City. That he slipped away to Atlantic City the night before a crucial game and opened the door for criticism that perhaps he wasn’t doing all he could to prepare himself for battle.

A pattern is forming, and NBA executives are understandably leery about Jordan’s fascination with what can be a very seedy business, one that has a history of association with organized crime.

In his anger about news reports that he was out late and lost money, Jordan doesn’t need to become basketball’s version of Pete Rose. He doesn’t need his reputation soiled by gambling. He ought to cool this casino stuff for awhile, at least until the offseason.

He doesn’t need all this controversy. We don’t, either.

June 1, 1993

Jordan’s Reputation and Image Make his Gambling a Real Issue

Let’s get it straight right away. Whether Michael Jordan is a “compulsive competitor” or a “habitual gambler,” his affinity for betting on golf and cards or whatever else is not a non-story, as some are suggesting.

This is the most famous athlete in the world today. He is wealthy because the media has written about him and the public has adored him and paid to watch him play basketball and buy the products he endorses.

Like it or not, when he is tossing away $165,000 in petty change to a person with a drug conviction who faces indictment for laundering illegal drugs and gambling proceeds, the public has interest in it. When some opportunist (my note: a man named Richard Esquinas) wrote a book to claim Jordan lost $1.25 million to him in a 10-day golf betting binge — and provides photos and scorecards and canceled checks to back at least part of it up — the media can’t ignore it.

This is more than simply an invasion of Jordan’s privacy.

No, he has done nothing illegal, as far as we know. But gambling’s underbelly has influenced outcomes of sporting events since the Black Sox scandal of 1919. No one is accusing Jordan of consorting for a “fix.” Surely he is too smart, too good a person, too darn rich for that.

But when Jordan has to negotiate his seven-figure debt down with his San Diego golfing cohort, has to set up a payment installment plan and is accusing of welshing on paying the balance of the settlement, it leads to some rather disturbing assumptions.

You read in this space last week that, at least for appearance’s sake, Jordan made an error in judgment by trekking to Atlantic City the night before Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. It’s gone beyond that now.

Whether he is a compulsive competitor or habitual gambler is just a question of semantics. There is a problem here. You pull for a guy who has been one of the credits to the game. You hope he gets some help.

Postscript: When Jordan left for his baseball stint after the 1993 season, one rumor was that he was actually going away while serving a suspension levied by the NBA for his gambling exploits. Former commissioner David Stern shot that down vehemently in “The Last Dance,” and I believe him. If the NBA had intended to punish Jordan, it would have been revealed to the public to make him an example.

What has changed a lot in the years since then is the NBA — so resistant to any association with gambling through the years — is now in the business. In December, the league announced a partnership with William Hill, making the sportsbook operator the authorized sports betting operator of the NBA in the U.S.

I suppose it was inevitable given the vast amounts of money being bet on NBA games, and pocketed by the sportsbooks. The league wanted in on its fair share of the action.

Readers: What are your thoughts on my stories back then, and how do you feel about the NBA formally being associated with organized gambling? Leave a comment below.

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