Today, it looks like all professional sports leagues love sports betting. However, that wasn’t always the case. Some leagues were more enthusiastic about the potential of sports wagering than others — especially the National Basketball Association.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was the first of his peers to get on board with expanding legal sports betting across the United States, famously writing in the New York Times that “sports betting should be brought out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated.”
Silver got his wish. Almost a decade after his op-ed was published, 38 states have some form of legal sports betting. In Canada, home of the Toronto Raptors, legal sports betting is available from coast to coast.
The NBA and others have taken advantage of this sweeping legalization to form new business partnerships with sportsbook operators and to use wagering to increase interest in their games.
But in the background of this boom has been a steady and perhaps growing concern about sports betting scandals enabled by this new environment. The numerous instances of discipline handed down by leagues against their players for gambling-related activity since 2018 show that those concerns were not unfounded.
The following has been released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/h2TIkaE7xs
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 17, 2024
Which brings us back to Jontay Porter. On Wednesday, the NBA announced the Toronto Raptors player is now banned from the league for breaking its gambling rules.
"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," a press release said.
The release contains details about those alleged activities, which came to light after it was only recently reported the NBA had launched an investigation following eyebrow-raising amounts of betting on props involving Porter.
Silver said last week that Porter was accused of a "cardinal sin" under the NBA's rules, and left the impression the Raptor was being looked at for potential wagering on the league's games.
"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 in a statement on Wednesday announcing the ban.
The amount of detail provided by the NBA, the league’s swift investigation, and the sharp penalty handed down strike me as Silver and Co. trying to show the world that the system works. An example had to be made, but the NBA provided more information than some of its peers when dealing with similar situations.
For example, the NHL announced last October that it had suspended a player for 41 games for "activities” related to sports betting. While the professional hockey league said it found no evidence Shane Pinto wagered on NHL games, it didn't say much more about the investigation. The release did, however, include an apology from Pinto.
Compare that to what the NBA provided on Wednesday, which is a relatively detailed accounting of allegations against Porter, including how much he is accused of wagering on NBA games down to the dollar.
So, the system worked. The NBA just needs you to know that it worked, and how it worked.
I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest the NBA really wanted to show people that regulated sports betting works.
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) April 17, 2024
On the left is the NFL announcing gambling-related suspensions, and on the right is the NBA's announcement for today. The NBA's contains a lot more detail. pic.twitter.com/1PUOGvxhTP
The telltale parlay
That knowledge can act as both a shield and a sword for the league. Not only can it help the NBA defend against the concerns about sports betting and its effects on the game itself, but every player in the league now knows how capable the league can be in trying to catch any bad behavior. It could also help the league push regulators and its sportsbook partners for changes, such as to the type of prop markets available for bettors.
According to the league, its investigation found that Porter tipped off an NBA bettor about his health before a March 20 game and that another associate then placed what sounds like an $80,000 same-game parlay with an online sportsbook. The wager would have paid $1.1 million, and was filled with Porter-related Unders.
"In the March 20 game, Porter played only three minutes, claiming that he felt ill," the release said. "Due to the unusual betting activity and actions of the player, the $80,000 proposition bet was frozen and was not paid out."
Moreover, the league's release said that Porter, while traveling with the Raptors or their G League team, placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using someone else's online sports betting account.
The total amount wagered was north of $50,000, and while none of the bets involved a game in which Porter played, the league said three were multi-game parlays that included one Raptors game and that Porter had bet on Toronto to lose.
"All three bets lost," the league noted. "The suspicious bets involving Porter's performance in the Raptors' March 20 game were brought to the NBA's attention by licensed sports betting operators and an organization that monitors legal betting markets."
This will be something worth monitoring: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver saying the Jontay Porter matter "raises important issues about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place, including the types of bets offered on our games and players." pic.twitter.com/1pXSs9OIsB
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) April 17, 2024
Yet even that may not be enough for the NBA’s liking.
"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," Silver said in his statement on Wednesday. "Working closely with all relevant stakeholders across the industry, we will continue to work diligently to safeguard our league and game."
The NCAA is already trying to remove college player props from legal sportsbooks across the U.S. Silver’s comments suggest the NBA could be interested in similar restrictions, albeit maybe not as sweeping as those sought by NCAA President Charlie Baker.
Porter has yet to comment publicly on the matter, but his brother, Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., said he “highly” doubted Jontay would do anything to put his basketball career at risk.
The National Basketball Players Association also said Wednesday that it would ensure Porter had all the resources he needs and that all players should be afforded appropriate due process. The union added that it would keep providing players with training materials to help them understand "how to properly navigate the complex sports betting landscape."
Still, Silver and the NBA felt they needed to make an example of Jontay Porter, and they did. They can now put that example to use.
