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Antonio Gates is denying any involvement in any rigged poker game following a report over the weekend, potentially linking the former football star to the ongoing gambling scandal that has wrapped up current and former NBA players.
Investigative sports journalist Pablo Torre reported on Sunday that the Hall of Fame tight end had hosted and participated in an allegedly rigged game of poker in Miami organized by Curtis Meeks, one of the more than 30 individuals indicted by the feds last week related to a lengthy probe into separate sports betting and rigged poker game schemes.
In a statement, released through his business manager, Denise White, Gates denied the report.
“Antonio Gates has not been involved nor has he been accused of any wrongdoing, assertions to the contrary are false and without merit,” White said in a statement. “There will be no further comments on this matter.”
Gates was not named in the indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors last week, which did name Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Heat guard Terry Rozier and former NBA player Damon Jones among the 30-plus alleged co-conspirators arrested.
Follow The Post’s latest on the gambling scandal rocking the NBA:
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Torre has not retracted his report or made any follow-up comments about it since he posted it on Sunday.
The Post reported over the weekend that one purported victim said he and friends were duped out of nearly $1 million at an allegedly rigged poker game with an ex-NFL player serving as the draw to lure them. The victim would not divulge the player’s name.
In the indictment last week, federal prosecutors alleged that as part of the rigged poker game scheme, conspirators used Billups as a “face card” with the mob-linked organizers using the allure of the NBAer to get their marks or “fish” to participate in the games.
Among the advanced tactics used were allegedly X-ray tables and high-tech contact lenses to see marked cards that were utilized to help rig the games.
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