“Blatant violations”
The Toronto Raptors’ Jontay Porter has been banned from the NBA for severe violations of the league’s gambling policy. In a Wednesday announcement, the NBA confirmed that the suspicions of Porter “limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes” were true and that he disclosed confidential information to bettors.
“There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams and everyone associated with our sport, which is why Jontay Porter’s blatant violations of our gaming rules are being met with the most severe punishment,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.
Silver added that while legal sports betting does provide systems to monitor and uncover suspicious betting activity, this situation does raise “important issues about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place,” implying that player prop bets may need to be examined.
The NBA said that it is continuing to investigate Jontay Porter and will share any additional findings.
Tipped off bettor, intentionally underperformed
Two of Toronto’s games this year had been reported as being under the microscope, but the NBA specifically pointed to one, a contest against the Sacramento Kings on March 20. Before the game, Porter told someone he knew to be an NBA bettor “confidential information about his own health status.” That person then bet $80,000 to win $1.1m that Porter would not hit his player prop stats (like points, rebounds, assists, and three-pointers) offered by sportsbooks.
sportsbook froze the bet and never paid out the winnings
After just three minutes of that game, Porter claimed he was sick and exited the contest. Because of that, his numbers came in well below the established over/under props. Because of the unusually high wager and “actions of the player,” the sportsbook froze the bet and never paid out the winnings.
The other game that was likely being investigated, though not mentioned in the NBA’s announcement, was a January 26 showdown with the L.A. Clippers. In that one, Porter left the game after four minutes after allegedly aggravating a previous eye injury. As with the March 20 game, he did not reach the prop totals.
DraftKings posted on X after both games that the biggest winners were those who bet on Porter unders. A sportsbook source told ESPN that some bettors tried to put five-figure wagers on Porter unders for those games when the typical maximum was $1,000-$2,000.
Bet on NBA games
The NBA also revealed that Jontay Porter bet on NBA games, including on games involving his own team. From January 2024 through March 2024, Porter placed “at least” 13 bets on NBA games using someone else’s online sportsbook account. At the time, he was with both the Raptors and the Raptors’ G-League affiliate, Raptors 905.
three of them involved the Raptors in multi-game parlays
He wagered a total of $54,094, with bets ranging from $15 to $22,000, and profited $21,965. None of the bets were for games in which Porter played, but three of them involved the Raptors in multi-game parlays and in those, Porter bet on the Raps to lose. Porter ended up losing all three bets.
According to Action Network, Porter “owned and operated” a FanDuel VIP account in Colorado on which he wagered millions of dollars from 2021 to 2023. Action Network’s sources said that FanDuel did not accept any NBA or college basketball wagers from Porter; the NBA Constitution does not expressly forbid players from betting on other sports.
Last week, the Colorado Division of Gaming instructed state sportsbooks to report if any accounts connected to Jontay Porter placed wagers on NBA games.