Item#: 9518
Level2
Containment Class:
esoteric
Secondary Class:
cernunnos
Disruption Class:
keneq
Risk Class:
danger
A photograph of Lebron James taken during an SCP-9518 event.
Special Containment Procedures: Foundation webcrawler I/O LORENZ is to monitor all commercial sportsbooking and prediction marketplaces for newly created accounts consistent with SCP-9518 patterns. Accounts tagged are to be cross-referenced with the Foundation’s databases of living, deceased, missing, and nonexistent persons. Accounts with a high probability of being SCP-9518 instances are to be deleted, along with any bets or markets the account created.
If an SCP-9518 event is suspected to occur, I/O LORENZ is to trigger an emergency response and delete all broadcasts and social media posts related to the affected game. Agents inoculated with Class W antimemetic drugs and equipped with portable SRAs are to be dispatched to the affected game venue, and are to organize containment efforts. This includes the amnesitization and evacuation of the civilian population from within the venue, the publishing of a cover story to justify the evacuation, and assisting with any necessary cleanup.
Description: SCP-9518 is a phenomenon that occurs within commercial sportsbooking and prediction marketplace platforms, wherein bets placed will alter reality in such a way that the bets placed become successful.
SCP-9518 events begin one day prior to the affected sporting event. Between ten and fifty sports betting accounts will simultaneously manifest and place bets on existing positions. Depending on the platform, they may manifest alongside and bet on a custom market. If these bets remain up, a number of anomalous events will occur during the affected game that invariably lead to the serious injury or fatality of multiple players or audience members.
SCP-9518 events emit a passive memetic effect that causes witnesses to treat them as natural parts of the game, and will react as though the events are in no way unusual. If an SCP-9518 event disrupts the game to the point that it cannot be completed traditionally, the remaining players will play towards an alternate win condition.
Several patterns regarding SCP-9518 manifestations have been identified:
- SCP-9518 only affects basketball games.
- SCP-9518 primarily affects high-profile telecast games.
- SCP-9518 does not manifest within physical sportsbook venues.
Due to the nature of its manifestations, the lead hypothesis on SCP-9518 is that it is sentient and suffers from ludomania.
Discovery: SCP-9518 first came to the Foundation’s attention in 2018 following a string of continual manifestations. Following these incidents, Foundation researchers identified the link between SCP-9518 and sportsbooking, and the current containment procedures were implemented.
Further analysis has shown that SCP-9518 has manifested as far back as 1997. Due to the large variance in SCP-9518 events, these incidents were mistakenly documented separately under the Logs of Extranormal Events or Unexplained Locations.
Addendum_1 – Manifestation Log:
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The following is a list of confirmed SCP-9518 events that occurred prior to discovery:
Date
Bets Made
SCP-9518 Event
Aftermath
02/04/1997
Allan Caidic will cross up Victor Pablo.
The friction within the Araneta Coliseum temporarily vanished, causing a large pileup of players and dozens of injuries in the audience. Patrimonio slid into the courtside seats, and Caidic scored a three-pointer from a supine position.
The incident was blamed on an earthquake that hit the city earlier that day. Treatment of the injured was left to local emergency responders.
17/12/2005
The gatorade shower will be orange.
The contents of the Miami Heat's cooler was transformed into molten copper. Players who drank the copper displayed no adverse health effects. After the game, the copper was poured over Erik Spoelstra and instantly hardened.
All players had the contents of their stomachs removed before being returned to the civilian population. Efforts to excavate Spoelstra proved unsuccessful. He was transferred to Site-73 for containment and a cover story about his retirement was published.
25/09/2007
Caitlin Clark will miss a three pointer lol.
A temporal rift above the three point line within the Conseco Fieldhouse opened for twenty seconds. A basketball emerged from this rift traveling at 290 km/h and struck the rim, shattering it. The ball then struck the ceiling, causing a partial collapse that killed twelve and injured thirty.
A cover story about renovations to the center causing its ceiling to collapse was published. Foundation resources were diverted to assisting with the cleanup.
26/10/2010
Paul George will get called for a foul for once in his goddamn life.
Space within the Alamo Dome distorted, increasing the total length of the court to three kilometers. Paul George, ball in hand, traversed this distance in fifty seconds, taking over two thousand steps. It was only on the last step that George received a traveling foul.
A cover story about a termite infestation was published, and the Alamo Dome was boarded up. Foundation funds for the construction of a ninth basketball stadium in the city were allocated.
08/05/2015
The Wizards will defeat the Atlanta Hawks. I don't care how.
Kant counters within Washington DC detected an increase in hume levels at 5:06 PM. Six audience members were later reported as missing to local law enforcement. The specific methods SCP-9518 used to cause the Wizards to win are unknown.
Agents were unable to identify a source, and continued monitoring the city for signs of further activity for one year.
13/05/2018
Lebron James will score a dunk during game 2.
During game two, all humans within the Spectrum Center manifested an additional pair of arms. This occurred in the middle of a dunk, resulting in Lebron James's arm impaling Jayson Tatum. A riot in the audience broke out due to the referees not calling a foul, resulting in twenty one additional deaths.
A cover story about an infectious disease outbreak within the Spectrum Center was disseminated. Attempts to surgically remove the extra arms of afflicted individuals and return them to the civilian population are currently underway.
13/05/2018
Hell yeah, I'm on a roll. Kim Perrot will defeat the Minnesota Lynx, or something.
Thirty minutes into the game, the entirety of Target Center was transmuted into flesh, swallowing the Chicago Sky players and audience. One minute later, roughly five thousand identical clones of the late Kim Perrot emerged and began to play. One hundred individuals were killed in the ensuing crowd crush.
A cover story about a fire at the Target Center was disseminated. The Target Center and Perrot clones demanifested after the game’s conclusion. The location of the transmuted individuals are unknown.
13/05/2018
Denver Nuggets VS New Orleans Pelicans will go into overtime.
During the third period, the floor of the Pepsi Center was transmuted into water, resulting in two players drowning. Remaining players used materials in the stadium to construct makeshift boats and began playing a game that vaguely resembled basketball for two more hours until JJ Redick scored.
A cover story about a burst pipe at the Pepsi Center was disseminated. Agents assisted local emergency responders with treating players for hypothermia.
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Addendum_2 – Deletion Log:
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The following is a list of attempted SCP-9518 events logged and deleted by I/O LORENZ.
Date
Bets Made
SCP-9518 Event
Aftermath
23/10/2018
Middleton Ilyasova will miss a free throw.
No event occurred.
Bet was unsuccessful.
06/11/2018
What the fuck?
No event occurred.
N/A
03/04/2019
Alex Len will score, rebound, or defend duriing the game.
No event occurred.
Bet was unsuccessful. Several personnel were found to have bet the opposite of SCP-9518 as a form of insider trading. These personnel were reprimanded and ordered to attend therapy sessions on gambling addiction.
04/04/2019
Shayne Coplan will be cannibalized in the Wintrust Arena.
No event occurred.
Bet was unsuccessful.
23/10/2020
Fuck you Coplan. You'll get torn apart in Trinity Gym.
No event occurred.
Bet was unsuccessful.
01/02/2025
None.
No event occurred.
Bets related to the Luka Dončić–Anthony Davis trade were tagged as SCP-9518 instances. This incident was deemed unrelated to SCP-9518.
28/12/2027
Sixers VS Boston Celtics will end with Ben Simmons being emulsified.
Event could not be confirmed.
No individual by the name of Ben Simmons could be identified in any Foundation database. The Emergent Threat Tactical Response Authority was put on alert.
30/12/2027
Researcher Jasmine will foul Janitor Berkeley during the Site-15 game.
Kant counters around Site-15 detected a spike in hume levels at 12:19 PM PDT, triggering an emergency lockdown. Four personnel, who had been playing a game of basketball in the Site courtyard, became locked out. As Jasmine and Berkeley approached the door, Jasmine blocked Berkeley’s path. Upon contact, Jasmine was bisected vertically.
A subsequent investigation revealed that a sports betting platform had manifested within a neighboring business, and that Site 15’s SRAs had been undergoing repairs during the SCP-9518 event. Agents deleted the platform and instructed other Sites to conduct similar investigations.
Following this incident at Site-15, SCP-9518 manifested over twenty blank bets on existing platforms in the course of one week. No SCP-9518 events are believed to have resulted from these bets.
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Addendum_3 – Request For Updated Containment Procedures:
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Meeting Transcript:
Date: 06/01/2028
Participants: Head Researcher Jaylen Brown, 05-5
[Excerpt begins four minutes in.]
05-5: This again? For the last time, Brown. We don’t terminate anomalies.
Brown: I’m not suggesting we terminate it. We should simply erase the concepts of basketball and online gambling.
05-5: We can’t do that either.
Brown: We have little choice at this point! If SCP-9518 can manifest a market within any private intranet system, then I’m not sure we can fully contain it through traditional means.
05-5: What you’re suggesting would significantly alter normalcy. It would alter history. It would bankrupt a significant portion of our fronts. Site-666 alone gets nearly a third of its revenue from its online casinos. And the San Clemente Palms? Nearly half. How do you suggest containing SCP-9518 without that funding?
Brown: I… in that case, our only option would be partial containment.
05-5: Well, let’s see our options.
[Brown cycles through a log of every containment method tested on SCP-9518 over the last 7 days]
Brown: …Deploying tarpit networks online: ineffective. In all cases, new SCP-9518 accounts manifested after a few minutes. Deploying Scranton Reality Anchors at every basketball venue: ineffective. Estimated completion date would be in 2065. Deploying-
05-5: Wait, did the SRAs prevent any events?
Brown: There haven't been any SCP-9518 events this week to test. But SRAs likely would prevent them.
05-5: And the cost of constructing and deploying them?
Brown: █████████████████. Accounting for maintenance, it would be even higher.
05-5: …Oh. Is there any way we could mass produce them cheaper?
Brown: Unfortunately, no. We had Site-██ construct one such prototype, but it was only able to nullify the reality altering effects of their thaumaturges for twenty minutes. So it wouldn't prevent an SCP-9518 event.
05-5: Twenty minutes… I feel like there’s potential there.
Brown: How so?
05-5: Well, you’ve theorized that SCP-9518 is sentient. So we can assume that it watches the games it bets on. Meaning for those twenty minutes, we’d have its undivided attention.
Brown: …We could talk to it?
05-5: Something like that.
[End of meeting]
Report Submitted by Head Researcher Jaylen Brown (26/01/2028).
…Pending…
Approved (27/01/2028)
Update to Containment Procedures: Thirty prototype Scranton Reality Suppression and Response (SRSR) Systems have been deployed at basketball courts around the world. If an increase in baseline hume levels consistent with SCP-9518 patterns are detected, SRSR Systems will stabilize local reality for nineteen minutes. SRSR Systems will then automatically trace the source of ontokinetic energy, and will transmit a series of files to the source both electronically and psionically. Files transmitted by the SRSRS system will include:
- The Foundation International Addiction Helpline number and email.
- Recordings of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy sessions about gambling addiction.
- PDFs of various SMART Recovery Handbook editions.
- Links to various online self-help seminars.
The Foundation is currently working with multiple national governments and Groups of Interests to regularly inspect major intranet networks for SCP-9518 manifestations.
Basketball is banned at Foundation Sites that lack an operational SRA. Sites with basketball courts are to decommission those courts before conducting SRA maintenance.
Update (27/01/2030): SCP-9518 manifestations have dropped by 75% from peak rates. The Temporal Anomalies Department has been instructed to open a rift to 2007 and to have Caitlin Clark throw a basketball through it to prevent a temporal paradox from occurring.
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