Toronto Raptor’s Jontay Porter under investigation for betting irregularities

Jontay Porter, a professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA), has recently been under investigation for multiple betting irregularities that have been discovered in recent months. 

The National Basketball Association is currently investigating the matter in question.  

The betting irregularities being investigated include prop bets on the player's scoring, rebound and assist totals garnered from a few of the games in which he took part in these past few months. 

In the following sections of this article, we will be going into further detail into the specific betting irregularities that raised such suspicion in recent months. 

The betting irregularities that garnered such interest 

January 26th, 2041 

On January 26th, 2024, a game in which the Toronto Raptors played against the LA Clippers took place. 

On this day, there was a suspiciously increased interest in the bets concerning the under for Porter props. 

During the night that this game was played, these were set at around 5.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists. 

In addition to this, there was an over/under for Porter made 3-pointers. This was set at 0.5. 

On this day, Jontay Porter only played for a total of 4 minutes in the game in question. 

The Toronto Raptors reported that the reason for this was because of the re-aggravation of an eye injury the player had suffered from just 4 days earlier during a game against the Memphis Grizzlies. 

During this game, the following occurred: 

• Porter did not score against the Clippers 

• Porter had 3 rebounds and 1 assist 

• The player did not attempt a 3 

This means that the under hit on all of the props. 

In addition to this, it was later reported that the under on Porter’s 3-pointers was the biggest money winner for sports bettors that night. 

This means that this was the biggest win of any NBA player props from all the games that took place that night, garnering much suspicion in the process. 

March 20th, 2024 

A very similar event occurred on the night of March 20th, 2024, when the Toronto Raptor’s played against the Kings. 

On this day, Porter played in this game for only a few minutes in total. Much like in the game that took place on January 26th, the player was absent from the rest of the game due to an illness that he was suffering from. 

Again, much like in the previous game, a large number of sports bets were placed on his prop unders. 

Following that night, when this game took place, various betting sites reported that there were a number of requests from bettors who wanted to bet over $10,000 on Porter’s prop unders. 

One must keep in mind that the typical limits for these bets are between $1,000 and $2,000.

Are players allowed to bet on sports betting sites? 

We must clarify that it is completely forbidden for NBA players and team employees to bet on sporting games of any shape and form. 

Amongst the games that players are prohibited from betting on, players and team members cannot place a bet on prop bets. 

In addition to this, both players and team members of the NBA are forbidden from sharing any information to bettors and thus purposefully skewing the results of the game that they take part in. 

This is the case for all players and team members of various sports associations. 

It is such a prohibited act, in fact, that the National Basketball Association has a team of data analysts who habitually scour the data available to ensure that no such betting irregularities are taking place. 

The consequences of these betting irregularities 

The news of this potential scandal in the professional basketball playing world has had dire consequences for the NBA. 

In addition to this, the timing of this scandal is a rather bad one, giving the NBA a particularly bad look. 

This is because, in recent years, the National Basketball Association has been in the process of strengthening its bonds with various legal sports books. 

The successful tying of these bonds, ones that the NBA plans on making with companies offering bettors easy bets on sporting events, will result in bringing considerably more revenue to both owners and players. 

For this reason, the NBA is a huge proponent for sports books, and the news of any potential betting irregularities, especially ones caused by a professional player in the League, has cast the NBA in a very bad light. 

If it is indeed the case that Jontay Porter was involved in any way in the resultant betting irregularities experienced on various sports betting sites, then one can expect the NBA to give the player a multi-year ban, if not a ban for life. 

Another sports betting scandal that has recently blown up 

Another scandal in the world of sports betting that has recently been the talk of many takes us from the NBL to the world of professional baseball. 

This particular scandal involves popular MLB star Shohei Ohtani and his longtime interpreter and close friend Ippei Mizuhara. 

Major League Baseball star Shohei Ohtani has stated that he was ‘beyond shocked’ to hear that Ippei Mizuhara, his longtime interpreter, had allegedly stolen more than $4.5 million from his bank account to use on illegal sports betting, and thus to fund his gambling addiction. 

Mizuhara is being accused of this massive theft by the lawyers hired to defend the Dodgers’ star player. 

The discovery of this alleged theft was made following an investigation into Matthew Bowyer, a bookmaker living in Orange County, California, who is suspected of carrying out illegal gambling activities. 

During this investigation, the name Shohei Ohtani was discovered in the bookmaker’s books. 

After further investigation into this matter, it was discovered that Ippei Mizuhara, the baseball star’s interpreter and trusted friend, had, allegedly, been the one responsible of stealing millions of dollars from Ohtani’s bank account in order to pay the illegal bookmaker currently being investigated. 

In recent weeks, the alleged theft that took place from the MLB star’s banking account has opened up a significantly larger issue that lies at the core of sports betting.