Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter has been banned for life from the NBA for gambling

The NBA has banned Toronto's Jontay Porter for life after violating the league's gambling rules.

The league said its investigation found that Porter disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, restricted participation in one or more games for betting purposes and placed bets on NBA games.

The investigation surrounds Porter's performance in the Jan. 26 and March 20 games. In both of those games, Porter played briefly before leaving, citing injury or illness, and didn't come close to the numbers offered to bettors as prime bets in those contests. . That means those betting against Porter will be cashing in because he left those games before hitting the lines set by the sportsbooks for his points and rebounds in those contests.

Some sportsbooks said they were alerted to odd betting patterns surrounding Porter's props in those games, so the league, which has business relationships with multiple betting companies, may have gotten some of that information.

Porter, 24, joined the Raptors on a two-way contract this season and played in 26 games with five starts. The six-foot-11 center is averaging 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 13.8 minutes this season.

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