The NBA announced today a lifetime ban for the Toronto Raptors forward after an investigation found that Porter disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, limited his own participation in multiple games for betting reasons, and also bet on NBA games himself.
Porter is not the first professional athlete to be mired in a gambling scandal as there have been numerous instances of discipline handed down by leagues against their players for gambling-related activity since 2018. But the NBA was more heavy-handed than in most other cases. Commissioner Adam Silver was one of the earliest proponents of legalized sports betting but accused Porter of committing a ‘cardinal sin’ before today’s announcement.
The NBA was more heavy-handed in its punishment than other leagues have been in many other cases of improper gambling activities by players, and perhaps used this situation as proof that legal, regulated sports betting does in fact work.
Comments from Industry Insiders
Both ‘Lifetime Ban’ and ‘Jontay Porter’ were trending on X throughout the day, and this tweet from Vixio’s Matt Carey summed up the public image dilemma that this matter might bring for the legal sports betting industry at large:
The inherent contradiction of regulated sports betting and the relationship between sportsbooks and leagues is that the system working (i.e. both working together to catch bad actors) gives the impression that the system is broken (i.e. the relationship *caused* the bad actors).
— Matt Carey (@MattCareyGC) April 17, 2024
Sports betting consultant Dustin Gouker echoed this sentiment:
Jontay Porter being banned from the NBA is an example of sports betting legalization and regulation doing what it's supposed to do. Thanks for attending my TED Talk.
— Dustin Gouker (@DustinGouker) April 17, 2024
Covers’ own Geoff Zochodne compared the NBA’s announcement with the NFL’s statement on suspensions handed down before the 2023 season, exhibiting the contrast in level of detail between the two approaches:
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
Other notable reactions
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski revealed a “damning” facet of this mess: Porter bet on his own team to lose:
Most damning for Porter and the NBA itself: He bet the Raptors to lose, according to league’s investigation. https://t.co/6oKyi0Fhty
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 17, 2024
According to the investigation, Porter placed a multi-game parlay that included one Raptors game in which Porter bet that they would lose. In total, he wagered $54,094 on at least 13 bets on NBA games using an associate’s online betting account, with bets ranging from $15 to $22,000. His net winnings resulted in just under $22,000. He earned over $2 million in salary in his NBA career to this point.
He also told an individual he knew to be an NBA bettor about his own health status prior to the Raptors’ March 20 game. He ended up playing only three minutes in that game and left early claiming that he felt ill. Another associate of his placed an $80,000 same-game parlay with an online sportsbook that was filled with Porter-related Unders before this game too, which would have paid out $1.1 million. Due to the unusual betting activity and the actions of the player, this bet was frozen and not paid out, sparking the rest of the investigation.
Naturally, these details triggered tons of diatribes on X.
CBS’ Todd Fuhrman lambasted the “stupidity” of Porter:
There are so many levels of stupidity in play here it's absolutely impossible for my simple brain to even comprehend all of them https://t.co/JJsBhzSDkk
— Todd Fuhrman (@ToddFuhrman) April 17, 2024
USA Today posted a rundown of fans roasting Porter using tweets from his own account that didn’t age well. This particular quote tweet took a shot at Porter’s college career at Mizzou:
Jontay has been a menace since college https://t.co/0j2oIj8PWh pic.twitter.com/QrG7wgjmuJ
— blue and white ignite (@futtywap) April 17, 2024
Of course, the memes and GIFs did not disappoint in this story:
RAPTORS WIN 108-99, WHAT A GAME
— 𝒮𝑒𝒶𝓃 (@SeenTheMain) April 17, 2024
Jontay Porter:pic.twitter.com/WFBCRUG2kQ
And Bomani Jones absolutely from the top rope on his podcast (NSFW):
"Jontay Porter has been banned from the NBA for being the dumbest MF alive!"
— The Right Time with Bomani Jones (@righttimebomani) April 17, 2024
Full pod with @DragonflyJonez and @bomani_jones: https://t.co/Teo1pUeAMm pic.twitter.com/zLHloqCevd
