While the biggest sports betting story this year may have been the one revolving around Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, it’s the NBA that is staring down the barrel of a major controversy with the storm surrounding Jontay Porter of the Toronto Raptors.
Porter, on a two-way contract with the Raptors, unfortunately became a household name in late March when a report from ESPN surfaced that there were highly unusual betting trends involving Porter’s player props in two games earlier this year. Porter, who has averaged 4.4 PPG in 25 games since joining the Raptors in January, saw his under props become huge winners on DraftKings.
Specifically, DraftKings said his under 0.5 three pointers bet was the biggest money mover of the day after a January game against the Cippers where Porter played just 4 minutes and left the game due to a reported eye injury without attempting a three.
A similar thing happened in a March game against the Kings with similar wins on Porter’s under props when he left a game after a few minutes due to illness.
Porter is currently under investigation regarding the suspicious activity and hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since the report became public. For a relatively anonymous NBA benchwarmer, the movement brought huge red flags. Adam Silver has threatened a lifetime ban if the NBA finds Porter culpable and there is now a report that he was an active and prolific sports bettor himself.
A new report on Tuesday claims that Porter operated a “VIP account” at FanDuel out of Colorado that placed over 1,000 wagers totaling millions of dollars between 2021-2023.
Via Action Network:
Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter owned and operated a VIP account at FanDuel in Colorado that wagered millions of dollars in total from 2021 to 2023, multiple sources with direct knowledge told the Action Network.
One of those sources said FanDuel did not accept any wagers on the NBA or college basketball from Porter, whose brother, Michael Porter Jr., is a pivotal member of the Denver Nuggets team that won the NBA championship in 2023.
Porter allegedly placed over 1,000 wagers at the sportsbook. “He was firing all of the time,” a source said.
Porter was a member of three different NBA G League teams during these alleged wagering activities. Porter’s FanDuel account activity ceased a few weeks before he signed a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors, a source said.
There are a couple of immediate caveats with this report. First, Porter’s VIP account was at FanDuel while the suspicious betting activity was at DraftKings. Also, it’s reported that Porter did not bet NBA or college basketball games from the FanDuel account, even though the number of bets was staggering. Finally, Porter did not bet at FanDuel after signing with the Raptors this season.
With Ohtani’s name cleared after a federal investigation revealed details of Mizuhara’s behavior and depths of his alleged activities with the Dodgers star’s bank account, the cloud of speculation around Porter is now going to only increase. While there are no direct ties in this report linking Porter to the NBA bets in question, the circumstantial evidence is crushing.
