Colorado orders books to report any bets placed by Jontay Porter
Apr 12, 2024, 4:39 PM | Updated: Apr 17, 2024, 11:44 am
Colorado regulators are now investigating if Jontay Porter has placed bets with any of the state’s sportsbooks and if those wagers were on the NBA, according to ESPN.
The four-letter network reports that the Colorado Division of Gaming issued a directive to sportsbooks on Thursday, “instructing operators to immediately report any potential wagering on ‘NBA affiliated games’ by accounts connected to Porter.”
Past attempts by local reporters to reach the Colorado Division of Gaming on this issue have been rebuffed, signaling a change this week.
Earlier this week NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that if Porter had done what is alleged it would be a ‘cardinal sin’ and he could face a complete ban from basketball.
The Raptors center is currently under investigation by the league after unusual activity was detected on prop wagers based on his statistics in two games earlier this season. Multiple books, including FanDuel and DraftKings, reported spikes on Porter’s unders twice this season—on Jan. 26 and on March 20. Porter left both games after only a few minutes of action. He has not played since March 22.
Porter’s brother, Michael Porter Jr. of the Denver Nuggets said last month, “I highly doubt he would do anything to put that (playing basketball) in jeopardy.”
Jontay has gotten a second crack at the NBA this season after bouncing around the G League. He is a former Nuggets summer leaguer and could be the subject of the biggest sports betting scandal since the legalization of it spread across the country in recent years. If there’s evidence that Porter placed bets and possibly threw stats and/or games to cash in on bets, he’d be the first to break that barrier since the most recent boom.
Jontay, like Michael, is from Missouri and also spent time growing up in Washington. MPJ being selected in the first round of the 2018 draft has seen the Porters spend more time in Colorado, including another brother, Coban Porter. He was a member of the Denver Pioneers basketball team before killing somebody in a drunk driving crash. Porter awaits sentencing.
Aside from the short stint for the Nuggets over the summer, Jontay has not played for any other Colorado-based teams in the last several years. Though there were stretches where he wasn’t in the NBA or G League, perhaps placing him alongside his brothers in Denver, which is likely why the state regulators want to take a look at the sportsbooks specifically in Colorado.
