The 2023-24 NBA season provided many highlights for fans and bettors alike, and culminated in the Boston Celtics winning their record-18th NBA championship over the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals.
But the season was marred by a major betting scandal when former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter was banned from the league for his part in a gambling scheme centered around Porter’s own prop bets in a regular-season game.
Porter left a Jan. 26 game against the Los Angeles Clippers and a March 20 game against the Sacramento Kings after just a few minutes. A bettor who was in contact with Porter placed an $80,000 same-game parlay at DraftKings based on the unders for Porter in the March 20 game and would’ve won $1.1 million – but the wager was flagged after the game and never paid out.
The NBA investigated and found that Porter had revealed information about his health to a sports bettor before the game. According to ESPN, sportsbooks flagged suspicious betting patterns on props relating to Porter before those games.
Porter was banned from the NBA in April and pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
One other interesting note from all of that happening last season is that ESPN reported major U.S. sportsbooks won’t be offering under bets this season on NBA players on 10-day or two-way contracts. FanDuel, DraftKings, ESPN BET and Caesars Sportsbook confirmed to ESPN that they would comply with the proposed prop betting restrictions. BetMGM responded to an email from Odds Shark saying that the sportsbook wouldn’t be offering props on those players.
The overall amount wagered on these props is relatively low, so it’s not a big hit to the handle for sportsbooks, and it certainly is much more difficult for a player to manipulate his overs than unders. The integrity of the game is of paramount importance for all sports leagues, and this is one step the NBA is taking towards making sure there are no further sports betting scandals this season.
There are only 11 NBA teams (Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Lakers, L.A. Clippers, Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder) that play in a state without legalized sports betting.
This will be an interesting storyline to follow throughout the season.