The NBA dropped the hammer on Jontay Porter from the Toronto Raptors, slamming him with a ban for breaking the league's gambling rules. They uncovered that before a game on March 20, Porter spilled the beans on his health to someone known to be a big NBA bettor. That person then dropped an $80,000 bet, aiming to win a cool $1.1 million, by betting that Porter would have a bad game that day. The league also found that Porter held back in games to impact the results of bets on his performance, going against the NBA's rulebook.
Commissioner Adam Silver didn't hold back, saying, "Protecting the integrity of NBA competition is paramount." He made it clear that Porter's actions were a big no-no, and the punishment reflects that.
Silver also raised concerns about the current rules around legal sports betting, suggesting they might need a tune-up.
The NBA dug deep and found that Porter made at least 13 bets from January to March while on the road with the Raptors, using someone else's betting account. These bets weren't on games he was playing in. He pocketed nearly $22,000 in winnings from these bets.
Even before all this came to light, Porter had been a busy bettor. He reportedly placed more than 1,000 bets on a FanDuel account, which was shut down when he signed with the Raptors in December.
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