(CNN) — With per diem money burning a hole in their pockets, they’d hop on charter flights, head to the back of the plane and start shuffling the cards . Usually, they’d play poker, sometimes bourré but almost always some sort of card game for money.

“And by the time the plane hit the ground,’’ chuckles one former NBA player who still works in the league and asked not to be identified, “your per diem would be gone. God forbid it was a 10-day trip.”

To understand how professional athletes are getting caught in the crosshairs of illegal gambling activity, it helps to understand their culture. Theirs is a world consumed by competition and hyper-competitive people who have disposable income and time on their hands.

“It is,’’ said an NBA scout who asked not to be identified, “a perfect

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