Kriti Mehrotra
As a (then) renowned NBA referee who gambled on the games he officiated, Timothy “Tim” Donaghy made headlines back in 2007 for breaking all bounds of sports regulations and scandals. That’s because he not only denied the “fixing” allegations against him but also claimed the Association often indicated the officials should manipulate outcomes to ensure an extended season. The NBA has denied this, of course — but now, if you simply wish to learn more about Tim’s earnings throughout this period as well as his overall current net worth, we’ve got the details for you.
How Did Tim Donaghy Earn His Money?
Since Tim grew up in the sports-loving Delaware County of Pennsylvania with a collegiate basketball referee for a father, he knew from an early age he wanted to be a part of this world as well. He thus worked hard and even graduated from Villanova University with a Bachelor’s degree in sales & marketing before landing a spot on the officiating squad for local high school basketball. He actually spent around five years honing his skills through intense first-hand experience here, only to then move onto the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) for seven seasons in total.
Tim joined the NBA in 1994 and officiated 772 regular-season games as well as 20 playoff games prior to resigning for good once news of his criminal activities came to light in early July 2007. The truth is, the official had been involved in gambling through bets on the golf course or poker since well before the esteemed organization even hired him — he was addicted and just couldn’t stop.
“[I] didn’t need the money,” Tim admitted in Netflix’s ‘Untold: Operation Flagrant Foul,’ “between stock investments, between playoff bonuses, [and my salary], I was making well close to $400,000 a year. I was near a line I shouldn’t have been near, and I jumped over it, giving picks on games that I was officiating in the NBA.” He maintains he solely used his insider knowledge to do so.
While the precise amount Tim earned from his initial bets is unclear, he received $2,000 per correct pick after he began working alongside James Battista and Thomas “Tommy” Martino in 2006. However, some reports do suggest his calls were so accurate that his cut was soon increased to $5,000 — he never had to expend anything out of pocket for incorrect picks, as per the original deal.
Therefore, according to the now-disgraced NBA referee’s own estimates to the FBI, with his average 70 to 80% win rate, he made around $30,000 in total for passing information to the bookies. We should mention that when Tim faced the consequences of his actions, apart from a 15-month sentence in federal jail, he was also ordered to pay a $500,000 fine and $30,000 in restitution to the government. As if that’s not enough, a judge further ordered him to pay another $233,317 in restitution (alongside his two co-conspirators), but this time it was to the NBA for undeniably cheating them.
Tim Donaghy’s Net Worth
Considering the fact Tim Donaghy has managed to get back on his feet again following the entire scandal by embracing his past, it appears as if he’s doing very well for himself at the moment. He not only published a memoir titled ‘Blowing the Whistle,’ but he also worked at a gambling treatment center and sold sports picks through his now-defunct website called RefPicks. He was actually awarded $1.3 million upon suing his book’s publisher for not compensating him in 2012, following which he eventually started “investing in real estate and basically being a landlord.” Hence, as per our calculations, Tim’s accumulated net worth could be close to $3 million.
