In all of Jontay Porter’s idiocy, he has provided a service to other professional athletes who might consider betting on games in which they are directly involved or in which they have insider knowledge to provide to players.
It is almost impossible to achieve this in a world of legal, regulated and monitored gambling. It’s even more impossible when you’re as blatant as the NBA says you are.
It’s not like placing an illegal bet with Bill the Bookie and paying losses or collecting winnings at the local burger bar on a Monday night.
That doesn’t mean it won’t happen again. Someone always thinks they can beat the system, and maybe someone can, but not Jontay Porter and his simple attempt to make some extra money. It’s inevitable, just like it was inevitable for this to happen in the first place.
The league’s investigation uncovered stunning evidence against Porter, the younger brother of Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., who had a two-way NBA/G-League contract with the Toronto Raptors worth approximately $410,000.
The NBA discovered that Porter had spoken to a player about his health; another player Porter knew placed an $80,000 bet on Porter to underperform in specific statistical categories; Porter limited his participation in a game to influence the outcome of one or more games; he placed bets on NBA games through an associate’s online account and although none of the bets involved games that Porter played, one bet included a Raptors game in which Porter bet that the Raptors would lose.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had no choice but to ban Porter for life from playing in the league.
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The game is everywhere and the leagues (but not the NBA) have adopted it. You can’t watch a game without the game being part of the advertising or on-air discussion.
“We limit the amount of sports betting advertising in our games,” Silver said following NBA owners’ meetings last week. “Whether this is in the right direction, others may have a different opinion, but we limit it. But that is of course only a fraction of the amount of sports betting advertising we see.
“I live in the New York market. It’s constant in terms of promotions to get people to bet on sports.
It is a source of income. It’s good for business. Revenue from NBA gaming partners is shared with players, and the NBA allowed in the 2023 collective bargaining agreement for players to enter into partnerships with gaming companies.
The league cannot prevent a Jontay Porter situation, and that is why there are safeguards, such as monitoring, to identify inappropriate bets.
“The alternative is illegal sports betting, and I think at least in a legalized structure there is transparency. Just as in cases where we have dealt with very sophisticated computers, when there is aberrational behavior, we become aware of it rather than betting on what is happening in the shadows or underground.
Silver’s concern is real. You can hear it in his voice and read it in the statement he released announcing Porter’s ban.
“This case also raises important questions about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place, including the types of wagering offered on our games and players,” Silver said.
Silver has long proposed federal regulation, and he also suggests limiting or eliminating side bets involving gamblers, namely players with non-guaranteed or nominal contracts who could be more easily enticed to break the rules.
Can the NBA and other leagues find a way to make this happen, or will they just have to live with the consequences? Because even if the league didn’t have a relationship with sports betting, sports betting would still be in business and someone would still be looking for a quick payout.
Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt