Former Raptors player Jontay Porter details gambling addiction that led to NBA ban
Porter told The New Yorker he bet millions on table tennis and was pressured to manipulate games to pay off debts.
TORONTO · Former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter has described how a gambling addiction led to his lifetime ban from the NBA. In an interview with The New Yorker, Porter said his betting started in September 2021 while he was sidelined with a knee injury. He placed a six-figure wager on an NFL game using FanDuel after watching with friends. Porter then shifted his focus to professional table tennis because matches occurred more frequently than football games.
Porter explained the appeal of the fast-paced sport to the magazine. "It can take weeks to make money from a stock trade, but a ping-pong match, it takes 15 minutes," he said. He reported staying up past midnight to bet hundreds of thousands of dollars on Russian table tennis matches. On one three-day binge, he both won and lost more than a million dollars. "It's exhilarating because in your mind, your whole life rides on how good a serve this guy has," Porter said. "It drives you insane, quite literally."
After FanDuel banned him because PayPal flagged overdrawn deposits, Porter found other platforms that offered credit. This path connected him with a member of New York's Gambino crime family, according to the report. By the 2023-24 season, Porter was playing for the Raptors but carried significant gambling debt. His creditors allegedly pressured him to influence the outcome of games to settle what he owed.
The first attempt occurred during a Raptors game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Jan. 26, 2024. Porter said the associates did not place large enough bets due to wagering limits, so they orchestrated a second event. He manipulated his performance again on March 20, 2024, in a game against the Sacramento Kings. The NBA investigated and issued a lifetime ban three weeks after the March incident. Porter appeared in only 26 games for Toronto before the league terminated his contract. Porter, now 27, continues to play basketball with the Seattle Super Hawks in the USBL. He signed with the team in February 2026 while awaiting sentencing after a guilty plea to wire fraud. He has also founded a charity called the Open Gate Project, which aims to provide treatment for people struggling with gambling addiction.
With files from blogTO