Legalized sports gambling didn’t cause the NBA’s scandal. It made it inevitable. When professional sports leagues embraced betting — not merely tolerated it but built it into their business model — they created an environment where corruption wasn’t a risk; it was a certainty.

Indictments of more than two dozen defendants — including Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier — are shocking but not illogical. We turned basketball into a casino, then acted surprised when someone played the house.

Until 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports betting, gambling sat on the edge of American sports like a live wire. After legalization, that wire was plugged in.

Odds appeared on broadcasts, teams signed sportsbook deals and a

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