Toronto Raptors center Jontay Portay has been issued a lifetime ban by the NBA following an investigation into his involvement in sports betting. The league discovered that before the Raptors’ March 20 game, Porter disclosed confidential information about his health to a known NBA bettor. This led to another individual, who was also acquainted with Porter and identified as an NBA bettor, placing an $80,000 bet on a parlay proposition with an online sports book to win $1.1 million, predicting that Porter would perform poorly in the game.
Despite this, due to suspicious activity and Porter’s actions during the game, the bet was frozen and not paid out. Further investigation revealed that Porter had engaged in 13 or more bets on NBA games using someone else’s betting account, totaling $54,094 with a $76,059 payout. Sports betting operators flagged Porter’s suspicious activity and bets related to his own play, prompting the NBA to take action to protect the integrity of the game.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver stated that Porter’s violations of gaming rules warrant severe punishment to preserve the fairness and transparency of NBA competition. Silver also highlighted the need for a regulatory framework to address issues such as the types of bets offered on games and player involvement in betting. The NBA will collaborate with industry stakeholders to ensure the league and game are safeguarded from potential threats to integrity.