PointsBet dropped the ball
The fallout continues from the wide-ranging basketball sports betting scandal of the past couple years, as the Canadian gambling regulator has proposed a five-day suspension of PointsBet’s license.
On Thursday, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) accused PointsBet of allegedly failing to “properly monitor, detect, document and report suspicious betting patterns” surrounding Porter’s manipulation of his playing time for betting purposes.
In its press release, AGCO said that shortly after the Porter allegations came out in 2024, it asked Ontario-regulated sportsbooks to let it know if they offered Porter prop bets for the games in question, and if so, if they detected any betting irregularities. PointsBet said it did not, but as the US DOJ dug deeper, AGCO asked again in October 2025, at which point PointsBet answered in the affirmative.
Expressing its disappointment in PointsBet, AGCO said:
Regulated igaming operators act as a critical first line of defense in protecting the integrity of sport and Ontario’s sports betting market. They are required to diligently monitor, detect and immediately report unusual and suspicious betting activity on their sites that may be indicative of bet-rigging. The timely identification and reporting of such issues warn sports leagues, integrity monitors, regulators and law enforcement of potential integrity concerns. It also alerts gaming operators across the globe, which allows them to take necessary steps to protect their patrons from bets lacking integrity.
PointsBet has 15 days to appeal the suspension.
Thread pulled
In a scandal that has wider ties to both the NBA and college basketball, Jontay Porter, formerly of the Toronto Raptors, was banned from the NBA in April 2024 for pulling himself from two games with fake injuries so that co-conspirators could make money betting on “under” props offered by sportsbooks.
By exiting games after playing just a few minutes, Porter guaranteed that he would not hit the statistical targets set by the books, thus assuring the people he plotted with would cash in.
Porter has since admitted in court to what he did, pleading guilty to conspiracy. He has yet to be sentenced.
