Producer Jonathan Saba has acquired the film rights to the NBA betting expose that involved former Cardinal O’Hara students James Battista and Tim Donaghy.
The expose was reported in Sean Patrick Griffin’s novel, “Gaming the Game: The Story of the NBA Betting Scandal and the Gambler Who Made It Happen,’ writes Jack Dunn for Variety Magazine.
The film “explores the fascinating world of sports betting through the eyes of Jimmy ‘The Sheep’ Battista,” according to the logline for the film script.
Battista became a prosperous bookmaker and collaborated with Tim Donaghy, another Cardinal O’Hara student, who was also an NBA referee.
Donaghy placed bets on basketball games he officiated, changing the point spread with the choices he made.
They formed one of the most respected betting syndicates to ever exist called The Animals, according to the logline.
“The revelation that a professional referee was betting on his own games rocked professional sports. However, this story goes so much deeper and everything you think you know is just the beginning,” Saba said.
He described The Animals as a living paradox, “unassuming, yet sophisticated, crude yet shrewd, hardworking, yet uninterested in ostentatious symbols of material success.”
Read more about the film rights to “Gaming the Game” in Variety.
