NBA bans Raptors player for life after he leaked info to bettors
- Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been banned for life from the NBA for gambling violations.
- The NBA said Porter leaked health information to a known sports bettor, among other violations.
- The league's investigation remains open.
A player for the Toronto Raptors was slapped with a lifetime ban from the NBA after the league discovered he broke gambling rules, including leaking information about his health and betting against his own team.
The NBA said in a statement that it opened an investigation into Raptors forward Jontay Porter after a game last month that attracted heavy interest from sports bettors.
Prior to the game on March 20, Porter "disclosed confidential information about his own health status to an individual he knew to be an NBA bettor," according to the statement.
Porter played only three minutes before tapping out, saying he was ill, the NBA said.
The investigation revealed he had leaked information about his health to a known sports bettor. A different bettor placed an $80,000 bet that Porter would underperform in the game — which would have paid out $1 million, the league said.
The earnings were frozen because Porter's behavior was suspicious, the league said.
Separately, the NBA said that between January and March of this year, Porter bet on at least 13 games totaling $54,094 by using an associate's online betting account.
While Porter didn't play in any of those games, he was found to have bet against his own team.
"Three of the bets were multi-game parlay bets that included one Raptors game," the NBA said, "in which Porter bet that the Raptors would lose."
"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 game rules are being met with the most severe punishment," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.
The investigation remains open.
Business Insider has reached out to Porter's agent for comment.
Sports betting has exploded in popularity since 2018, when the Supreme Court struck down a federal law prohibiting it. Americans legally bet $119.84 billion on sports in 2023, according to the American Gaming Association.
In a separate sports-betting saga, the former interpreter for Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani was charged last Thursday with stealing $16 million from the pitcher in order to pay off his gambling debts.
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