When I heard about the recent NBA gambling scandal, it brought back memories of my brushes with my own wagering.

Back in my 20s, I remember having the “white tickets” during football season when I had a few dollars attached to the ticket and handed it off to a friend’s father.

I’m sure a few of you reading this also indulged with those “white tickets.”

Years later, a friend and I had a mutual acquaintance in Philadelphia named “Danny,” who would take our bets over the phone. At the time, we were both covering the 76ers, and we would occasionally have some insider information that could bring us some nice paydays.

Did I feel my share of shamefulness? Considering I went to Catholic school for 12 years, I certainly did. But I was making money, and I felt the “rush.”

Fortunately for me, I was able to control my activity, and I was never in financial trouble. What always stuck with me was seeing the gambling notice on the back of the visiting baseball locker room at the Vet.

Marriage and later a child were two major solutions to end my activity. Unfortunately, my friend never was able to shake it, and he borrowed plenty of money from me through the years until he passed away.

Growing up in the 1960s and ’70s, gambling was always a taboo topic — like divorce — and it was truly never in the sports forefront. Sure, horse racing, boxing and occasionally baseball and basketball had their moments.

Whether you were a sports fan or not, we could agree that athletics at any level always carried a strong of integrity, character and fairness. They were role models and heroes.

Fast forward to 2025, and the integrity of sports — primarily the NBA — is on the ropes.

Yet, there are other culprits at prey who have muddied the sports world. That’s a story for another column.

Without rehashing the Terry Rozier and Chauncy Billups story, this likely will be the tip of the iceberg. It’s hard to believe that Rozier, a current Portland player who has made approximately $162 million, and Billups, the current Portland head coach who made roughly $107 million during his playing days, would have to resort to a scheme to make their lives more comfortable.

Call it the “rush.” It seems like the only logical reason unless they became overly indebted to organized crime or “La Cosa Nostra,” which apparently has been resurrected in New York.

There have been other recent smaller cases that have been swept under the rug without the FBI involvement.

It was a blurb when former NBA player Gilbert Arenas was arrested in July for making more than $150 million in a separate poker-related scheme.

The problem for the NBA began in 2021 when it announced a partnership with Draft Kings and Fan Duel as “co-official sports betting partners.”

The NFL and MLB also have joined arm and arm with both of the above mentioned companies and others. Add the NCAA to the mix when they announced that college athletes can bet on pro evens beginning Nov. 1.

In terms of the NCAA, these are the same athletes who are receiving outlandish amounts of NIL money. Does a 19- or 20-year-old need a few million dollars to play football or basketball, and what will they do with their money? Will they invest it? A few intelligent ones will.

Don’t forget about baseball’s scene, with Cleveland closer Emmauel Clase and starting pitcher Luis Ortiz put on paid leave in July for “suspicious wagering activity on Cleveland Guardians wagering events.”

For the time being, MLB has managed to shelve the incident.

We probably won’t hear too much in the near future about the NBA scandal. The league will soon unravel a positive marketing plan and revive some of the great moments of the plan. Still, there will be more scandals to come.

However, we can’t ignore the steady stream of gambling that continues to flow among the leagues and into individual lives, many of whom realize too late that they’re in the deep end of the pool.

Can gambling be fun? Yes, it can. You can go to any of the local carnivals to play a wheel or play a few games or bingo.

But we have seen it be exploited at the expense of others. It also has soiled the character-building world of sports that influenced our youth.

Gambling has taken a new role in the sports world, and we’re likely to see more of its dark side ahead. I can’t tell you how many gambling commercials I have heard on an app or seen on TV while compiling this column.

It certainly has changed since most of us used to play those little white tickets.

Jeff Moeller is a contributing columnist to the Times News sports section. Email him at tnsports@tnonline.com