Jontay Porter of the Toronto Raptors has been banned for life by the NBA for violating the league’s playing rules.
The NBA released a statement Wednesday announcing and explaining its decision.
“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 “, » reads the statement.
The NBA’s investigation found that Porter deliberately limited his participation in the Raptors’ March 20 game against the Sacramento Kings, specifically to influence the outcome of one or more bets on his performance. Against the Nets, Porter said he felt ill after just three minutes of play.
The NBA also found that before the game, Porter disclosed confidential information about his health to “a person he knew to be an NBA bettor.” Another person associated with Porter also bet that Porter would underperform on March 20 as part of an $80,000 bet he placed with an online sports betting site.
There is more. From January to March 2024, while traveling with the Raptors or the Raptors G-league team, Porter placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using someone’s betting account. ‘other. These bets ranged between $15 and $22,000, for a total of $54,094. These veterans’ total payout was $76,059, resulting in earnings of $21,965. None of the bets involved a game Porter played in, but he did bet on the Raptors losing in three different parlay bets. All three bets are lost.
Porter, 24, has not played since the NBA began investigating him for betting irregularities on March 25. The Raptors removed him from the lineup before tonight’s game against the Brooklyn Nets and he hasn’t appeared since.
Adam Silver hinted Porter could be banned
On April 10, a week before the NBA announced Porter’s ban, commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps that Porter’s ban was on the table.
“I have a wide range of disciplines,” Silver said at a midtown Manhattan hotel after the league’s annual board of governors meeting. “But it is a cardinal sin, what he is accused of in the NBA, and the final and extreme option I have is to ban him from the game.
“That’s the level of authority I have here. Because there’s nothing more serious, I think, in this league when it comes to gambling: betting on our games. And this is a direct involvement of the players and so, the investigation is ongoing, but the consequences could be very serious.
Legal sports betting is on the rise in the United States, and incidents involving professional athletes betting on sports have increased. The NFL has suspended a number of players over the past two years for gambling. But outright bans are rare. Porter will now be remembered alongside Pete Rose, one of the only other professional athletes in United States history to be banned from their sport for gambling.
News Source : sports.yahoo.com
Gn sports
