Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are opening an investigation into the sports betting involving former Toronto Raptor Jontay Porter.
In a statement to CityNews, OPP said they completed an assessment of the available information related to online betting irregularities from Jan. 26 and March 20, 2024 Toronto Raptors games and determined a criminal investigation was warranted.
Federal authorities in the U.S. have also launched an investigation.
“The OPP Investigation and Enforcement Bureau is aware of the ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by Federal authorities in the U.S.A and will be connecting with them as our investigation moves forward,” reads the OPP’s statement.
Porter was handed a lifetime ban by the NBA in April after it said he violated the league’s guidelines around gambling.
The league says its investigation found Porter disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, limited his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and bet on NBA games. All three are prohibited under the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement.
“The league’s investigation found that prior to the Raptors’ March 20 game, Porter disclosed confidential information about his own health to an individual he knew to be an NBA bettor,” the league said in a statement in April.
“Another individual with whom Porter associated and knew to be an NBA bettor subsequently placed an $80,000 parlay proposition bet with an online sportsbook, to win $1.1 million, wagering Porter would underperform in the March 20 game.”
A proposition bet is a wager not tied to the final score or outcome of a game that is often tied to an aspect of a player’s performance.
According to the NBA, Porter played only three minutes in the March 20 game before leaving citing illness.
In addition, from January through March 2024, while travelling with the Raptors or Raptors 905 Porter placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using an associate’s online betting account. These bets ranged in size from $15 to $22,000, for a total of $54,094. The total payout from these bets was $76,059, resulting in net winnings of $21,965.
Porter, 24, joined the Raptors this season on a two-way contract and appeared in 26 games, making five starts. The six-foot-11 centre averaged 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists over 13.8 minutes this season.