NBA, sportsbooks discussing changes to prop bets after Jontay Porter’s ban: report

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The NBA is hoping that Jontay Porter’s lifetime ban is the last gambling scandal the association has to face.

According to ESPN, the league is discussing changes to prop bet menus with its partner sportsbooks.

The discussions have gone as far as discussing the banning of “under” wagers for specific players, but there are apparently concerns that illegal gambling could increase without such a market.

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Basketball sits next to NBA logo

A basketball on the court next to an NBA logo during a break in the first half of a 2023 NBA Summer League game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 7, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

“Since states began legalizing sports betting in 2018, we have worked closely with betting operators as well as integrity monitoring organizations to put in place essential monitoring and reporting systems so that we are best positioned to identify potential betting anomalies and to act to protect the integrity of our game,” an NBA spokesperson said in a statement to ESPN.

Porter received a lifetime ban on April 17 after the NBA found in an investigation that he had disclosed confidential information to sports bettors and bet on games in violation of league rules. The NBA prohibits players from betting on the league or any of its properties.

The league said an investigation discovered before “the [Toronto] Raptors’ March 20 game, [Jontay] disclosed confidential information about his own health status to an individual he knew to be an NBA bettor.”

Jontay Porter shoots basketball

Jontay Porter, #34 of the Toronto Raptors, warms up before the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Moda Center on March 9, 2024, in Portland, Oregon.  (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

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“Another individual with whom Porter associated and known to be an NBA bettor subsequently placed an $80,000 parlay proposition bet with an online sports book, to win $1.1 million, wagering [Jontay] would underperform in the March 20 game.” 

He only played three minutes in the March 20 game, claiming to have been sick. The $80,000 prop bet was frozen and not paid out.

The NBA said it found that, from January to March of this year, while Jontay was either with the Raptors or its G League team, Raptors 905, he placed “at least 13 bets on NBA games using an associate’s betting account.”

NBA logo on a backboard

The NBA logo is seen on a backboard before the game between the Denver Nuggets and the Utah Jazz at Ball Arena on October 30, 2023, in Denver, Colorado.  (C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images)

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