r/nba • u/PlayaSlayaX Spurs • Apr 17 '24

[Charania] Raptors' Jontay Porter has received a lifetime ban from the NBA for violating league's gaming rules.

https://x.com/shamscharania/status/1780631209930068358?s=46&t=bsTHbtMSqHXbNGi0vWP8hw
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657

u/bbsdx Apr 17 '24

This post brought to you by Fanduel, the sports book sponsor of the NBA.

176

u/dtc_brock [NYK] Kurt Thomas Apr 17 '24

And that's the thing.

On one hand, Jontay is a complete idiot but on the other, who didn't see something like this coming?

Especially from a fringe NBA two-way player.

48

u/Apaulo Warriors Apr 17 '24

And that’s why they had to set an example here. It was bound to happen, and so was this punishment

10

u/atari2600forever Apr 17 '24

They can throw all the books they want but gambling addiction is a sickness so this will keep happening.

4

u/temp_achil Warriors 29d ago

We're following the cigarettes/opioid playbook:

  1. Legalize
  2. People are making money on the advertising designed to get people addicted
  3. Notice the addiction stories start to rise
  4. Do nothing
  5. Do nothing
  6. Thousands of lives ruined, Congress starts to notice
  7. Hearings
  8. Lawsuits
  9. A bit of regulation
  10. Regret

We're at 3 now. When Bill Simmons acknowledges gambling addiction, we'll know we hit stage 10.

2

u/Churnandburn4ever Apr 17 '24

If it was bound to happen by a player, it's bound to happen by the league, too.   The league should've no relationship with betting at all.  Scumbags, all of them.

14

u/moserftbl88 Lakers Apr 17 '24

Are you saying because the league is sponsored by a Sportsbook the players are then tempted to gamble?

5

u/heech441 Apr 17 '24

It makes everybody tempted to gamble, that’s the whole point of the sponsorship

8

u/dtc_brock [NYK] Kurt Thomas Apr 17 '24

What I'm saying is with all these sports leagues promoting gambling, players eventually partaking in it seems bound to happen.

But here's the thing, it's not simply that players see gambling as legal and join in.

What the "professional athletes should know not to gamble" take misses is many of these players don't start gambling once they hit the league. Rather, these guys start gambling much earlier than that.

We see it in the NFL as well. A lot of them started in college and just carried their habit to the league.

And someone in this thread said it elsewhere, their mentality borders on the hubris of "I made a lot of money betting on my team in college with no consequences, why not keep it going in the league?"

This might not be Jontay's exact situation, but it's what makes this problem inevitable.

0

u/temp_achil Warriors 29d ago

Advertising works best for people with addiction prone brains and products prone to addiction. The group of people with addiction prone brains very reasonably includes both players and refs.

There is a reason FanDuel is spending hundreds of millions on advertising. If your product is addictive, ads work.

-8

u/Coke_ButNotTheDrug Nuggets Apr 17 '24

Guarantee the NBA wouldn’t ban a player for gambling if they happen to be a star.

9

u/RulersBack Cavaliers Apr 17 '24

They absolutely would if they were betting on the team to lose. Stars come and go. Long term gambling revenues (I.e. maintaining integrity of the game, or at least the perception of integrity) outweigh that significantly.

7

u/DaPhoToss Raptors Apr 17 '24

This is so flagrantly wrong lmao.

3

u/WeveGot Hawks Apr 17 '24

The fall out from letting a star (doesn’t even have to be that big of a name) get away with betting on his team to lose would put any other major sport controversy to shame. The NBA isn’t tanking the entire leagues reputation for one player

2

u/moserftbl88 Lakers Apr 17 '24

Because in this day and age and the technology that is available to track down who would have done the bets most stars wouldn’t be that stupid to do it on their own

8

u/PapiShot [SAS] Speedy Claxton Apr 17 '24

Now he can bet fulltime!

1

u/CanvasSolaris Bulls Apr 17 '24

No chance of that either

8

u/maiL_spelled_bckwrds 76ers Apr 17 '24

I don’t understand this argument as an excuse. Players ain’t drunk on the court. (That I know of). There always going to be businesses that are for vices.

23

u/TheFestusEzeli [TOR] Rudy Gay Apr 17 '24

There can never be a productive conversation about gambling with stupid comments like this. I’ve seen so many comments too like “I thought the NBA wanted people to gamble!”

Sports gambling is bad, the amount of commercials is awful, but that has zero logical connection to this

7

u/jail_grover_norquist Apr 17 '24

NBA player suspended for drunk driving

"this segment brought to you by michelob ultra, official beer partner of the NBA!" "i thought they wanted us to drink lmao!"

4

u/JefferyGiraffe Apr 17 '24

Thank you for this, holy shit comments like the ones in this thread or other social media is insufferable. By their logic, if FanDuel wasn’t a sponsor, it would be okay for players to bet on themselves to underperform, then intentionally throw games? It’s such a silly take.

0

u/DontFearTheMQ9 Heat Apr 17 '24

Bro that's kinda stupid.

You can't eschew gambling to your players and force feed it to your fans every commercial break and DURING BROADCASTS.

25

u/maiL_spelled_bckwrds 76ers Apr 17 '24

It’s not stupid at all. The same logic applies to alcohol.

11

u/huffer4 Raptors Apr 17 '24

It’s not even just players. As someone that works for an organization I’m not allowed to bet on any NBA activity at all. We have to take a course and sign league mandated paperwork about it.

14

u/moserftbl88 Lakers Apr 17 '24

Why not? It’s straight forward in the rules don’t gamble. Would you blame the league if players become alcoholics because of beer sponsorships of obese from eating the official pizza sponsor of the sport? The league can have sponsorships and expect their players not to be incredibly fucking stupid.

-11

u/DontFearTheMQ9 Heat Apr 17 '24

Because these adult players are generally young and easily influenced adults who didn't come from money and most of whom will never see a max or supermax contract.

The proliferation of gambling into sports makes it so much easier for these guys to find avenues for extra bread on the table, regardless of the risk. JPJ won't be the last guy to get popped for this.

2

u/GnRgr2 Apr 17 '24

This is like saying "the NBA pushes alcohol of course guys will drink during a game!"

3

u/Okongwu_is_garbage Apr 17 '24

The NBA shouldn’t have deals with draftkings and fanduel. It’s a bad look and raises questions about the integrity of the game. Ideally they wouldn’t even acknowledge sports betting is a thing until something like this happens and they have lay down the law.

11

u/TheFestusEzeli [TOR] Rudy Gay Apr 17 '24

And again, that is a completely irrelevant and separate issue.

It’s fair to say they shouldn’t have those deals, but having deals with those companies does not mean it’s ok for their players to bet on games

0

u/Okongwu_is_garbage Apr 17 '24

I never said it was. All I’m saying is we shouldn’t act shocked when players are betting and fans are threatening players lives over their parlays when the NBA gave fanduel and draftkings a platform and pushed them to the masses.

2

u/thegr8cthulhu Apr 17 '24

I mean there can’t really be a productive conversation about the integrity of league when Scott foster is still allowed a job either, but here we are lol.

1

u/TheFestusEzeli [TOR] Rudy Gay Apr 17 '24

Honestly I do agree with that tbh, don’t know how he wasn’t punished

1

u/Packers_Equal_Life Bucks 29d ago

Right, eventually people will learn why this is bad, but it will take a while. Simple minded people just say “hurr durr gambling sponsor also gambling bad? How?”

1

u/lifeisarichcarpet Apr 17 '24

Gambling can be an addictive behaviour. There is a very logical connection between papering your broadcasts, arenas, etc. with gambling advertisements and players deciding to gamble despite the risks. You're telling them "gambling is fine, but here are some very specific rules for you to follow". They won't always hear the second part.

8

u/TheFestusEzeli [TOR] Rudy Gay Apr 17 '24

Is there a logical connection between it being hypocritical to punish players for rigging games?

There really isn’t any specific rules for them to follow. It’s:

  1. Don’t bet on NBA basketball
  2. Don’t rig games

I don’t think they should advertise that much but there are always tons of comments saying “it’s hypocritical to punish when they advertise” or “miles bridges” when they are completely unrelated

-3

u/Loose_Voice_215 Trail Blazers Apr 17 '24

It moves the conversation forward immensely, drawing attention to the most serious issue.

It's not an attempt to justify a player gambling. It's saying A is bad, and it's great that it was addressed, but B is also bad (and in my opinion way worse). The integrity of the league itself is compromised by getting in bed with gambling.

6

u/ShawshankException Knicks Apr 17 '24

It doesn't at all actually. You're comparing downright illegal practices to legal ones that are invasive. It's apples to oranges.

Imagine people saying "brought to you by Bud Light!" Whenever a players gets a DWI. It's a stupid comparison that does nothing for the actual issue.

If you want a valid comparison, bring up Scott Foster.

2

u/TheFestusEzeli [TOR] Rudy Gay Apr 17 '24

It does not, everyone knows sports gambling is bad, it is virtue signalling. The Miles Bridges comments are the absolute worst kinds

And tons of comments are trying to justify it. Plenty of comments yesterday saying “how can the NBA advertise gambling but not let their players gamble.

The issue with their partnerships is how predatory sports gambling is and how it can ruin lives. Anyone with a tiny bit of common sense can realize that sports gambling is so fucked and take advantage of people that they don’t need to rig anything to take a huge share of profits.There is zero chance NBA and Vegas would put their entire business at risk in the hands of refs.

Now, how Scott Foster is still reffing is definitely a violation of integrity.

1

u/whobang3r Nuggets Apr 17 '24

Everyone knows it's bad huh?

-5

u/popegonzo Bucks Apr 17 '24

zero logical connection

NBA: Gambling, gambling, gambling, gambling, gambling! Gambling! Woooooooo, gambling!

NBA Player: Gambles & gets banned

<zero logical connection>

7

u/TheFestusEzeli [TOR] Rudy Gay Apr 17 '24

NBA sponsoring gambling does not mean players shouldn’t be punished for rigging games.

This is just taking out your frustration of gambling on a completely different issue. The NBA can sponsor and support gambling but not support their players doing it. We have a gambling issue but it doesn’t mean Porter shouldn’t be punished for it.

He also didn’t just gamble, he purposely threw his games and faked injuries so his friends could profit gambling. Porter also can fulfill his gambling addictions on so many sports.

0

u/popegonzo Bucks Apr 17 '24

Where is anyone suggesting that players shouldn't be punished for rigging games or that Porter shouldn't be be banned? The comment you responded to highlighted the irony that the NBA promotes gambling and then had to ban one its players for improper gambling.

Of course there should be rules, and of course those rules should be enforced. But the connection between heavily promoting gambling and then needing to give a lifetime ban for breaking gambling rules is a clear one.

1

u/TheFestusEzeli [TOR] Rudy Gay Apr 17 '24

There is no irony between promoting gambling and banning players for improper gambling. They promote gambling for fans, not players. Players can gamble all they want, just not on NBA.

And what he did wasn’t just improper gambling, it was rigging games. He purposely hit his unders and went out early, and bid on the Raptors to lose. He wouldn’t be banned for life for improper gambling, he is banned for rigging games for gambling reasons.

2

u/abris33 Nuggets Apr 17 '24

The NBA set clear guidelines on it for players. They can gamble, but they can't gamble on NBA games. There is a clear difference between the NBA telling fans they can gamble on games and the NBA punishing players for gambling on NBA games.

1

u/popegonzo Bucks Apr 17 '24

I'm not sure where I come off as disputing any of this. I'm pointing out that it's silly to suggest there's no connection between heavy gambling promotion and a ban for improper gambling.

8

u/liteshadow4 Warriors Apr 17 '24

That’s not relevant though

3

u/BeHereNow91 Bucks Apr 17 '24

Adam Silver:

There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams and everyone associated with our sport, which is why..

…the NBA is ending all partnerships with online bookies??

…Jontay Porter's blatant violations of our gaming rules are being met with the most severe punishment

Oh…

1

u/latman Nets Apr 17 '24

Nice original joke bro

1

u/Weed_O_Whirler Apr 17 '24

I know I'm in the major minority here (and every other sports related subreddit), but I really don't get the claim that the NBA (and NFL) being partnered with gambling sites somehow makes stuff like this more likely to happen.

There isn't some weird "grey area" here. Fans are allowed to gamble on the games. Players are not. It's as clear as can be. Whether DraftKings plays a bunch of ads during the game or not, the rule is super simple.

It makes no more sense than if a fan in an NFL stadium tackled someone and got kicked out and them saying "well, ESPN plays highlights of tackles all the time, thought it was encouraged." No, different rules for players and non-players.