Achi news desk-
TORONTO – The NBA has suspended Jontay Porter for life after completing an investigation into gambling allegations against the former Toronto Raptors two-way player.
A league investigation found that Porter violated league rules by disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games.
All three are banned under the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement.
Porter averaged 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, in 13.8 minutes over 26 games with Toronto this season.
He also played for the G-League’s Raptors 905, but was seeing more playing time with Toronto in March after starting center Jakob Poeltl suffered a season-ending hand injury.
The NBA’s investigation found that, before the Raptors’ game against the Sacramento Kings on March 20, Porter disclosed confidential information about his own health status to an individual he knew to be a bettor.
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Another person Porter was connected to and knew to be an NBA bettor subsequently placed a US$80,000 parlay offer bet with an online sportsbook, to win $1.1 million, betting that Porter would underperform in the 123-89 loss to Sacramento.
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A prop bet, short for a proposition bet, is a wager unrelated to the final score or outcome of a match that is often related to an aspect of a player’s performance.
The league’s investigation also found that Porter limited his own game participation to influencing the outcome of one or more bets on his performance in at least one Raptors game. In the March 20 game, Porter played just three minutes, claiming he was feeling sick. Due to unusual betting activity and player actions, the $80,000 bid bet was frozen and not paid out.
In addition, between January and March 2024, when traveling with the Raptors or Raptors 905 Porter place at least 13 bets on NBA games using a companion online betting account. These bets ranged in size from $15 to $22,000, for a total of $54,094. The total payout from these bets was $76,059, resulting in a net profit of $21,965.
None of the bets involved any game in which Porter played. Three of the bets were multi-game parlay bets that included one Raptors game, in which Porter is betting the Raptors would lose. He lost all three bets.
The questionable bets were brought to the NBA’s attention by licensed sports betting operators and an organization that monitors legal betting markets.
The investigation into Porter’s conduct was revealed around the same time as news broke of an alleged gambling scandal involving Los Angeles Dodgers star interpreter Shohei Ohtani.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on April 17, 2024.
& copy 2024 The Canadian Press
