Wilt Chamberlain is one of the greatest players the NBA has ever seen. He’s famously known as the player that scored 100 points in a single game, which occurred on March 2, 1962.
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On top of scoring 100 points, he also averaged a record 50.4 points per game in a single season. If that’s not crazy enough, Wilt also owns the record for the highest rebounds per game in a single season, with 27.2 rebounds per game.
As a two-time NBA champion, Wilt found success on the court. Despite this success, he also faced backlash from fans and the media since his rival, the late Bill Russell, won 11 titles compared to Wilt’s two.
Disgruntled NBA fans weren’t the only ones breathing down Wilt’s neck. There was an agency that also had its eyes on Wilt, and it wasn’t in good faith. This agency was the FBI.
The FBI Keeps Watch On Wilt Chamberlain’s Gambling
Wilt Chamberlain was known for having other passions in his life other than basketball. After he retired from playing in the NBA, Wilt famously played volleyball, which became his post-career passion.
While playing in the NBA, it was well known that Wilt had a passion for meeting women, as he once claimed to have slept with over 20,000 women during his lifetime.
Wilt had another passion in his life, too. This passion was gambling. As a competitor, gambling is a way to keep the juices flowing. The chance to win big money is addicting, no matter if you make a lot of money playing basketball or if you work in a low-paying job.
Now, you’d think gambling would be just a fun hobby to do on the side, but when it came to Wilt’s gambling, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, also known as the FBI, opened an investigation into it. The reason for this was because it was rumored that Wilt was possibly gambling on basketball games that he played in.
FBI file on Wilt Chamberlain betting on NBA games + airplane threat he made in 1972. http://t.co/bbqDwnDZ
— Sports is History (@SportsbyBrooks) April 30, 2012
The FBI even kept reports on Wilt’s alleged gambling, keeping details of Wilt supposedly being involved with point-shaving in games he played. This included an unspecified game where Wilt played poorly with a “twisted knee”, and “heavy gambling” was involved.
Of course, what this report is trying to say is Wilt faked a knee injury to give him the excuse why he played poorly, and his team must have lost, netting Wilt a big gain if he bet against his own team. Of course, this has never been proven, but this is what the report claims.
The FBI’s report also claimed that a game that Wilt’s Philadelphia 76ers played on November 4, 1966, against the Bill Russell-led Boston Celtics saw Wilt bet a ton of money. Now, the report didn’t specify if Wilt bet on his team to win or lose, but the 76ers lost 105-87.
The loss to the Celtics was the first of the season for the 76ers, so this may point to the gambling and that Wilt bet against his team to be true. Of course, this was never proven, and in the game, Wilt scored 26 points on 8-16 shooting and 10-21 from the free throw line. Wilt also grabbed 23 rebounds, so it doesn’t look like Wilt threw the game.
On top of this alleged betting on games, the FBI claimed to have seen Wilt frequent Caesars Palace, which is in Las Vegas. The question now is: why does the FBI care that Wilt Chamberlain gambles in a casino?
There is no law that says a person can’t go to a casino and gamble their own money. A lot of people claimed this was the FBI’s way of keeping track of one of the most popular and powerful Black men at the time. They wanted to bring him down a notch, apparently, and sadly, this has happened in the past, many times… Look at what happened to Muhammad Ali.
No charges were ever brought against Wilt Chamberlain, and no definitive proof was ever presented that showed Wilt Chamberlain did anything wrong. So, do you believe Wilt was guilty of throwing games? Or are you on the side that the FBI wanted to bring him down?
