Source: Alika Jenner / Getty
Toronto Raptor’s Jontay Porter receives NBA lifetime ban after investigation reveals he violated league gaming rules.
Sports Betting is growing like an untamed wildfire across the United States. If you watch sports commentary or actual sports games you’ll see dozens of Ads with promo codes to try and get your money. With the explosion of sports betting, it was only a matter of time before a player violated league rules to try and make fast cash.
According to ESPN, an investigation found Jontay Porter violated gaming rules and the NBA delivered the harshest punishment possible. On April 17, Porter received an NBA lifetime ban from Commissioner Adam Silver.
“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 also doubled down on the NBA’s commitment to find future cheaters and make sure they protect the game. As gambling gets bigger so will the conspiracy theory players are fixing games.
“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. Working closely with all relevant stakeholders across the industry, we will continue to work diligently to safeguard our league and game,” Silver said.
Reportedly Porter bet on 13 games from a friend’s account totaling $54,094 and won $21,965. Essentially he threw away his NBA career for twenty grand and embarrassed his family including Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr.
To make matters worse insider Shams Charania revealed one of his friends placed an $80k underbet on Jontay in hopes of winning a million dollars. To put this in context Jontay is probably on the bottom of the list when it comes to most bet on players. Of course, that bet was frozen and probably was the final red flag that something suspicious was going on.
The original investigation was launched after irregularities were found in underbets involving Jontay that did end up cashing out big for betters. Also, the investigation revealed he disclosed confidential information like his health information to bettors. Jontay lost a $ 400,000-a-year job all for an extra $20,000.
