NBA Bans Jontay Porter For Gambling Violations

By Sam Batz

The NBA announced that Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter is no longer welcome in the association after an investigation revealed he had blatantly violated NBA gambling rules. Commissioner Adam Silver made it perfectly clear Porter’s actions would not be tolerated, as this is no meager suspension; this is a lifetime ban. 

In the announcement, Silver said, “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 game are being met with the most severe punishment.” 

The NBA launched the investigation after sportsbooks noticed irregular betting on the over/under related to Porter’s statistics in two Raptors games. The bets were flagged because in both games Porter exited early after only playing a few minutes, and the size of the wager was substantial.  

The investigation found that Porter revealed information about his own health to a known sports bettor ahead of a game on March 20th. Another better with the same knowledge also placed an $80,000 same-game parlay that featured unders on Porter’s stats. The winning prize money on said wager: $1.1 million. They bet that Porter would underperform, and after playing just three minutes, he left the game due to illness. The bet, which was placed at DraftKings, was not paid. 

Further investigation into Porter’s actions uncovered at least 13 bets placed on NBA games, which he made using a friend’s account. His bets ranged from $15,000 to $22,000, and according to the NBA, the total payout was $76,059. Porter’s net winnings came out to be $21,965. None of his bets involved any in which Porter played, but his actions were in clear violation of the NBA’s gambling policy.

Jontay Porter was a reserve center for the Toronto Raptors. He averaged 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 26 games with the Raptors after signing a two-way contract with the team in December. Needless to say, Porter was not a blockbuster player, which is a big reason the prop bets surrounding him were flagged. 

The rise of sports betting leads to more regulation and oversight, making it difficult to get away with what Porter and his associates were doing. The size of the bets, coupled with the irregularity of the volume, caused licensed sportsbooks and an organization that monitors legal betting markets to alert the NBA to the suspicious activity surrounding the rather unknown player.  

The result of Porter’s actions came down in a ruling, which confirmed that Jontay Porter is banned from playing in the NBA, and all affiliated leagues, for life. It’s a devastating ruling, but a necessary one. In order to keep sports betting fair and legitimate, any policy violations, especially from players, coaches, and referees, must be met with swift and decisive action. Adam Silver, the first major U.S. sports league commissioner to advocate for legalizing and regulating sports betting, said in Wednesday’s release that the “transparency of legal betting helps identify suspicious activity, but more needs to be done to prevent more issues.” 

In order to get his message across, Adam Silver handed down the most extreme measure to Jontay Porter, who will never again wear an NBA uniform.  

Jontay is the younger brother of Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr., who vouched for his brother back in March, claming “I highly doubt he [Jontay Porter] would do anything to jeopardize his NBA career.” 

In that same interview, Michael Porter Jr. went on to say “[sports betting] is part of the game now. I think that it’s obviously a dangerous habit.” He made those statements last month, and there is absolutely zero evidence that Porter Jr. knew of his younger brother’s sports betting activities. Porter Jr. ended by saying “Betting is definitely something that has taken over the sporting world — I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.”   

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