Jontay Porter (center) playing in a game in March, shortly before receiving a lifetime ban and becoming the face of NBA gambling scandals in the legal sports betting era. (Image: Zou Zheng/Xinhua/Alamy)

The NBA banned Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter from the league for life on Wednesday after he both bet on basketball and provided inside information to bettors about games in which he was participating. 

Porter is the first active player or coach to receive a ban from the NBA for gambling since Jack Molinas, who had wagered on Fort Wayne Pistons games while playing for the team in 1954.

Porter’s ouster raises questions about how casino sportsbooks can partner with sports teams while not allowing for gambling activity that violates league rules. 

Porter Limited Playing Time to Manipulate Prop Bets

According to the NBA, Porter deliberately limited his own participation in games in order to influence the outcome of prop bets on his performance.

In the statement announcing the ban, the league said that its investigation found that Porter disclosed confidential information about his health to a person he knew to be an NBA bettor prior to a March 20 Raptors game. Another of Porter’s associates wagered $80,000 on a parlay to win $1.1 million, relying on Porter to hit the Under in multiple categories for that game.

Porter ultimately played just three minutes in that game, claiming he was ill to avoid further playing time. However, that still didn’t result in a massive payout for his associate. 

“Due to the unusual betting activity and actions of the player, the $80,000 proposition bet was frozen and was not paid out,” the NBA said in its statement. 

Beginning on March 22, the Raptors held Porter out of all remaining games after ESPN reported gambling irregularities in games that Porter played in.

NBA Finds 13 Bets Made on Porter’s Behalf

The NBA also says that its investigation turned up 13 bets made by Porter on NBA games while he was with either the Raptors or Raptors 905, which is the G League affiliate for the Toronto franchise. Porter made the bets on someone else’s online betting account.

The bets ranged in stake from $15 to $22,000. In total, Porter bet $54,094, and the bets paid up $76,509, for a net profit of $21,965. None of the bets involved games in which Porter played, and while Porter made three parlay bets that included the Raptors losing, he lost all three of those wagers. 

In a statement, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver explained the league’s hardline approach against Porter.

“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,” Silver said. “While legal sports betting creates transparency that helps identify suspicious or abnormal activity, this matter also raises important issues about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place, including the types of bets offered on our games and players.”

NBA Relies on Sportsbooks, Monitoring Agencies for Alerts

There are several ways in which the NBA and other major sports leagues monitor sports betting in an effort to root out prohibited activity. In the case of the NBA, the league runs its own internal group that investigates irregular bets and unusual line movements. 

In addition, the NBA works with monitors and gambling operators. Groups such as US Integrity, the International Betting Integrity Association, and Sportsradar collect data and use that information to identify potentially suspicious bets. 

The NBA also contracts with betting partners such as FanDuel and DraftKings, and has agreements with both land-based and online casino operators that mandate reporting of any suspicious activity to the league. 

“At least in a legalized structure, there’s transparency,” Silver said earlier this month. “Just as in cases we’ve dealt with where very sophisticated computers, when there’s aberrational behavior, you become aware of that rather than betting that takes place in the shadows or underground.”

The NBA’s embrace of sports betting includes allowing brick-and-mortar sportsbooks to operate in multiple arenas throughout the league. Caesars runs sportsbooks at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (home of the Cleveland Cavaliers) and Capital One Arena (Washington Wizards), while FanDuel runs sportsbooks at the United Center (Chicago Bulls) and the Footprint Center (Phoenix Suns).

Porter has played 37 games in his NBA career, 26 of which were this year with the Raptors. For his career, the 24-year-old Porter was averaging 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. Porter is the younger brother of Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., who was not implicated in the scandal.