Make New York Post a Preferred Source Jontay Porter #34 of the Toronto Raptors warms up before the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Moda Center on March 09, 2024 in Portland, Oregon. Getty Images Former NBA player Jontay Porter was one of the first athletes in a major American sport since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018 to be banned for life for sports gambling violations.
The story shocked the sports world for it’s brazenness and the depths of Porter’s gambling addiction are still coming to light more than two years after the case made national headlines.
Nick Berardini, a journalist and former basketball player at Missouri where Porter also played, profiled the disgraced hooper for The New Yorker, and the details or Porter’s descent into gambling addiction are jaw dropping.
Porter’s journey into gambling actually began with day-trading and online casinos while he was with the Memphis Hustle, the Grizzlies’ G-League affiliate, but quickly turned to sports betting once he was cut and no longer had a foot in the NBA.
Porter said his first big bet was a $125,000 wager on the Chiefs against the Ravens in Week 2 of the 2021 NFL season. The Chiefs were up 11 entering the fourth quarter but were outscored by 12 and lost the game 36-35 sinking Porter’s bet, but hooking him into sports betting.
“I deleted the app, suspended my account that night and the next morning, I was mad and came back for vengeance.”
But Porter wasn’t just betting on NFL games. He placed 144 wagers over a four-day span that included the Chiefs-Ravens game for a staggering amount of $1.2 million.
Even more stunning is the fact that he said he has no memory of placing those bets.
“I don’t even remember betting that many times back then,” he replied when Berardini questioned him about that weekend. “I must’ve been glued to the screen.”
Jontay Porter #34 of the Raptors 905 is greeted onto the court by team mates before an NBA G League game against the Delaware Blue Coats at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre on December 14th, 2023 in Mississauga, Ontario. Getty Images According to the story, which used some of Porter’s betting data to track the extent of his wagers, the former Raptor wagered more than $50 million at FanDuel over a roughly 18-month span.
At one point, Porter took out a $500,000 loan on a house he owned in Memphis and blew it all on gambling, which led him to eventually sell the house and bet absurd amounts of money on, of all things, Russian ping-pong.
Porter was up over $1 million betting on Russian ping-pong and received numerous bonus bets from a FanDuel V.I.P host named Frank Cardenas that kept him betting more and more money over a five-day span.
“I think you’re addicted to the thrill of the in between, when you don’t know if it’s going to win or lose,” Porter said explaining his addiction. “Just that suspension where your whole outcome is in question — eyes bloodshot staring at a screen, your head is about to explode — and you win and it’s like ‘great I can keep going now’ and it feels really good for a second, but you want that feeling again.”
Porter’s rising debts with bookies eventually caught up to him and were the reason he ended up rigging his own performance when he got another shot at the NBA with the Raptors in 2024. He was banned from the NBA for life in April of that year once the league uncovered Porter’s betting activity.
Jontay Porter #34 of the Toronto Raptors shoots against the Houston Rockets during the first half of their basketball game at the Scotiabank Arena on February 9, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Getty After the scandal broke, Porter says he was so distraught that he went to a shooting range to blow off steam and ended up holding a gun to his head.
“The only things holding me to this earth right now are my faith in God and my unborn son,” Porter remembers thinking at the time. “I can’t leave this earth without meeting him.”
He pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit wire fraud charge and it was later revealed that his case is tied to the larger betting scandal that swept the NBA in 2025, which included former player and coach Chauncey Billups, former assistant coach and player Damon Jones and former player Terry Rozier.
Porter, who is still awaiting sentencing, could end up serving up to 20 years in prison for his role in the scheme, but he sees the entire ordeal as a blessing in disguise.
“I’m glad all that stuff happened with the NBA and getting banned and the public shame and all my dirty laundry out on the table,” said Porter “If I didn’t lose my NBA job I would have lost my wife, I would have lost my family support, I might have even lost my life.”
“If [the ban] didn’t happen,” he added, “I wouldn’t be here today and if I was here I’d be on my phone trying to figure out the next place I can place a bet.”
Malik Smith has been immersed in the sports betting industry since 2017. He’s a data nerd with a particular focus on the NBA and combat sports. He spends his weeknights in the winter looking for edges on plus-money NBA player props.
